A poem written in the cold abode of my Jutaku

The shivering rattle,

Glass panes collide with the thin metal between.

For here we are, a quiet city, disturbed only by

The wind.

The memories of each Teacher woven into Tatami,

Experience laced between,

The path trodden by foreigner alike,

All with different looks but the same outsider skin.

Can we continue? Question we,

The lonely, language crowd,

Colliding with the palpable wall of culture,

That keeps us between paper doors.

The summer brings elation, the winter cold thought,

Though children’s’ smiles sustain,

Are they enough to keep sanity and professionalism

Entangled?

Japanese people and food

So, before I came to Japan, I thought I was in for a treat. Finally a country who worked along my line of thought! Slim populace, health conscious and with one of the longest lifespans in the world. I thought I would be in for salads, fish and all sorts of lovely goodies that I would actually be able to eat!

Boy, was I wrong.

Welcome to Japan, home of 'pan'. Bakeries and curry houses on every corner, every type of food deep fried and of course, a distinct lack of being able to order salad anywhere. Even the fish dishes came with copious amounts of rice, sauce and fried vegetables. There was absolutely no where I could go and nothing I could eat! 

Restaurant after restaurant I visited and yet, I couldn't ever have 'just a salad' or 'sauce on the side' or anything like that. Anything remotely green was so covered in mayonnaise that it lost all of it's original colour! All the portions were so huge that I began to wonder, how on earth do Japanese people stay as slim as they do?!

Admittedly, working at a high school, I had some clues. The children and the teachers do a lot of exercise. The existence of bukatsu or 'club' means that every day after school is spent participating in the sport you agree to join in with. Teachers are not excluded from this. Some only watch from the sidelines but some are active trainers to their clubs, a feat I'm fairly certain most teachers in England wouldn't be able to accomplish. 

The second clue was bicycles. In my town especially, people bike everywhere. To and from school and work, to the conbini, even in a suit. The children at my school walked 23kms for ensoku, which is like a physical challenge, and they still cycled home afterwards. It doesn't matter who you are or how old you are, the ability to cycle everywhere, and not fear getting knocked off, must have some  effect. Cars here are always mindful of pedestrians and bikes. Without fail, they always look first and slow down. I've never felt unsafe on a bike in Japan, and I'm sure that freedom has a hand in their slim forms.

Lunch box size is another thing - the average lunch box for adults is much smaller than any I've seen. Portion sizes in restaurants are so much larger than what people bring in for lunch. Perhaps they are used to eating much less than the average Westerner is, especially in one portion. With continual small portions there is no issue with them snacking.

Metabolism. With all the rice that Japanese people eat, and it being sweet, sticky rice, they must have a fast metabolism. I don't know how else they can consume so many high gi carbohydrates and stay so thin and healthy.

All of these factors play a part. The Japanese lifestyle is unendurably hectic, with very little personal time, so the time they have to think about food is very little. However, I think the most important thing to consider is the whole Japanese -attitude- towards meals. They learn from day one that they can't start eating until everyone is ready and has said 'itadakimasu'. They only eat when they are hungry and are able to stop when they are full. They are constantly surrounded by sweet things and are able to hoard any chocolate and eat it square by square when the mood takes them. There is no rush. Food is always carefully prepared and beautifully displayed. 

And given just how much availability there is, their self restraint is admirable.

I have learned a lot from these eating habits. I'm not going to lie, being able to cook without tasting what I'm preparing or eat just one square of chocolate from a chocolate bar is truly liberating. I think their constant having snacks in the near vicinity tests their mental strength when they're young, until they are old enough to ignore snacks entirely until they actually want them.

If I can take these tips back to the UK, maybe it'll make my life a whole lot easier looking forward.

Christmas, New Year and all the bits in between

So I haven't written on this blog practically for the whole time I have been in Japan so far which is a bit of a fail. I should really have chronicled my experience more, but here's to 2013 being a more productive and fully chronicle year! 

During November and December I was definitely feeling the culture shock blues. My weight went up, I couldn't sleep, and my jutaku was so damned cold I wanted to run away and hide somewhere warm, just so I could escape the freezing weather. Additionally, my dog of 11 years died, which didn't help my overall morose mood. I didn't even get to say goodbye.

                                                              Christmas

However the start of December had me looking hopefully towards the winter vacation and any new improvements it might bring. It started with an exam (JLPT, level 5. I was playing it safe), and was shortly followed by an amazing trip to Disneyland! I went with a Japanese friend who, although she had been many times before, agreed to accompany to the magical land of happiness.







We left very early in the morning and arrived at Disney around 10:30 in front of a huge, well decorated 30th anniversary sign. Unbeknownst to me I was destined to visit Disney on the Christmas of the anniversary! As we entered, I was immediately floored by the elaborate Christmas decorations that covered every inch of every building, despite the fact that Japan doesn't really celebrate Christmas. Behind the decorations you could see the Princess' castle, and it was just like something out of a dream. Copied with such precision and adorned with lights, it was just the sight I needed to make me behave like a gleeful five year old for the next couple of days. My friend and I spent time going on every ride imaginable at Disneyland, from Winnie the Poohs honey pot (Actually Christopher Robin's tales) to a Roger rabbit ride, which was vey nostalgic! They even had 'It's a Small World' and The Nightmare before Christmas'. My favourite by far was the Monsters Inc ride; I had bought myself a Sully themed hat and scarf so I was particularly enthused to go on it. However the ride was so busy that there weren't any fast passes until 8pm! As you don't have to pay for fast passes in Japan, we decided to get one anyway, and even then it took half an hour of queuing! We ate 'little green men' and watched some of the parades (entitled "Happiness is Here"), and even got to meet Mickey! (We were both exhausted by that point).

After collapsing in exhaustion, and sleeping so deeply not even a hurricane could have woken me (a rare occurrence in my life), we spent the second day immersed in the joys of Disney Sea. Water themed, there were boats and rivers everywhere. The Little Mermaid had a Kingdom made if 'coral' and mosaics with intimate, glittering detail.

We rode some good rides, taken straight from the movies, like Indiana Jones, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and a haunted house rider which involved sitting in a falling elevator. Surprisingly, the queuing time was fairly misleading. Times listed as 40 minutes, only took 15 and it enabled more thrill seeking! One of the best rides of the whole two days was the Toy Story ride. The queuing area was made to look as though you were a toy, everything a hundred times it's usual size. It was so imaginative! The actual ride was a 3D shooting game, and definitely brought out my competitive side. 

Our two days of sunny bliss ended in a firework display on water, lit up with a thousand lights to accompany it, and containing music from Fantasia. Images were projected onto canvas balls which had been blown up until they were taught, I came home exhausted, but elated.

Following that, the Christmas season truly began. I took chocolate and sweets into majority of my lessons, wrote Christmas cards until my hands were sore and made a gingerbread army to give to the teachers at the end of the year. ESS and I made English Christmas cake one week and had a huge party the other, including games, stockings, and a young male English teacher starring as Santa. I made my Japanese friends Christmas dinner, exchanged presents and attended a bunch of parties, including a 'jutaku' food crawl. 

The bonenkai, the end of year party, was an evening of nabe (Japanese stew) and the freshest sashimi. Although I didn't drink, it was so much fun talking to the teachers out of the formal setting of school, and I even got number one in the lucky draw! The lower the number the better, and it meant I won a 15-year matured bottle of scotch. Although not my drinking taste, it was nice to be included and get a good prize. ( I never win at anything!)

When I headed to the airport early Saturday morning, I felt truly appreciated, after having received multiple notes and presents from various different teachers. 

The flight home was fairly uneventful and narrowly missed the violent storms battering the UK. I accidentally hit my dad in the face at the airport in my vigorous attempt to hug him and my mum, and I was beyond relieved to relax in front of the TV, in a warm room with my family and the Christmas tree sparkling.

Christmas time at home was similar to every year, with added happiness of seeing everyone after such a long time. My closest friend and I went ice skating in Winter Wonderland much to her chagrin and my joy, I did some sale shopping with my mum and my near 90 year old grandmother made the arduous trip across London to come and see me on Boxing Day. Presents both silly and sentimental were shared. And I will never forget the image of my father in a Kermit the frog onsie, a present from my mother, which provided us with endless amusement on Christmas Day. 

Saying goodbye to my family was harder this time, as I knew what I was returning to, but the hardest part of. Japan, the culture shock, was over. And as I returned to the country I both love and loathe sometimes, I had the good fortune to be met with one of the best New Years I have ever experienced. 

                                                                New Year

I arrived at Hakuba, in Nagano after a near 24 hour journey. Planes, trains, buses and taxis, I had used them all. All that was missing was a bike. I lugged my very overweight suitcase to my New Years hostel and immediately collected my ski gear. After all, nothing says 'fresh start' more than hurling yourself down a mountain on plastic blades. 

Following ski gear, I headed straight for the in house bar, which, to my surprise, held an Australian majority. There I met a miscellany of lovely people and was initiated into this backpackers' hotel by way of drunken Jenga and Uno.

The first day of skiing was a little akin to being caught in a blizzard, as the visibility was next to 0, and finding anyone that you were potentially skiing with was an absolutely nightmare. Undeterred, however, my friend and I bought our first ski pass to Hakuba 47. It was very strange to see the difference in ski passes between Japan and France. Le Trois Vallee (missing an accent, but ah well) have the fairly outdated system of paper cards and subsequent demagnetisation of said cards should you mistakenly place them next to your phone in your pocket. Japan, however, is far too high tech for that. They instead essentially have chips which you pay a deposit for and get a refund for at the end of the day.

We proceeded unhindered by the heavy snow and skied to our hearts content in the valleys of Iwatake, Happo One, and Hakuba-47/Goryu. Although it was freezing cold, after 5 or so layers, and a couple of black runs, it definitely began to seem more manageable. And as the days progressed, the visibility came better and better.

New Years itself was brilliant because there was no expectation at all. For my part, all the New Years spent partying in London, or elsewhere have been letdowns for various different reasons, not the least of which is that it's expensive, and difficult to get home after. However, in Hakuba, everything was very close, the people were absolutely lovely, and great fun to be with, the drinks were cheap, there was no need to pay for entry, and I even got a kiss at midnight.

Oh, and with the added bonus was a glow in the dark gin and tonic.

The final day was glorious sunshine, and with even mogels conquered, I returned to Kurume feeling more revitalised and ready to face the other half of the year. Although I'm fairly sure at this point I'm not going to stay beyond a year, I can definitely say that Christmas 2013 and New Year 2014 was a winter holiday to remember.

P.S. To all the friends in these photos that I have blurred out, I hope that's okay. Let me know if you want me to blur you out some more/put your beautiful faces back up there!