All Night or Bust!

This is Mark T.



Once again it is Sunday and I am drop dead tired. This weekend was the JASIN program’s annual Halloween all night party hosted by the incredible Mark T. (Japanese Culture professor). Mark T. happens to live on the third most scenic road in all of Japan. From his back porch, which overlooks a coastal panorama dotted with skyscraperesque rock formations miles out to sea, I spent most of the night chatting away with an Argentinean Spanish professor and my fellow classmates. However I’m getting ahead of myself.

My weekend started in unrest with a trip to an old resort built in the mountains during Japan’s economic bubble. Unfortunately that bubble popped and places like this lovely country resort are understaffed and seem very much like a ghost town of the old west (complete with plastic bag tumble weeds). I came to the resort to help the college’s English department do a day long workshop with their 30 English majors. We spent most of the day in a clean, but drab, conference room playing games with freshman from Nagasaki University and just speaking in English. Aside from meeting some friendly but shy new people the highlight of this excursion was without a doubt the two hour lunch break that I used to explore the grounds of this strange mountain resort. There were marble fountains filled with water lilies, ram's head fountains, fields of purple and white flowers that stretched to the horizon, and two huge greenhouses filled with the best smelling roses in the world. All of these sights are maintained by a handful of landscapers who work all day to a droning child like theme that plays on continual loop over strategically place loudspeakers all throughout the park. If you’ve seen the film “Spirited Away” this place is right out of that film. This blog’s title is Wakarimasuka which translates to "do you understand"? I always mention the little moments of clarity that stick out week to week in my travels but to mention all of them would take more time than I have to write. Saturday’s moment of clarity came while standing amidst red and yellow roses that towered over me and listening to the mountain breeze blow ripples across the loose tarp that covered the green house. This rippling rustle blocked out all other sounds and for just one moment I wasn’t in a rundown resort anymore. Hell I wasn’t even in Japan anymore. For one moment I completely lost myself, and then in a second I snapped back and continued walking. It was wonderful.

After helping all day with the English students, Mark T. drove me back to his house out in the country. The sunset and the party began. Schoolgirls, witches, zombies, Edward Scissor Hands, Quail Man, and Ninja’s all came out for this event. Spaghetti and sangria were served and the dancing began. I’m not much for dancing so I spent the first four hours on the back porch talking about home and travels with the usual crowd (John-O, Danny, EO, Asaka, and so forth). Then around midnight Mark T.’s fellow professor friends showed up and brought the party to life. The music turned up, cameras came out, and for all, the good times truly rolled. At two thirty, when the younger kids were falling asleep Mark T. bellowed out a request for better dance music, made a round of coffee for the crowd, and kicked things into a triumphant round three. Then after a group picture, in costume, the rowdy professors left at 3:45 and the kids changed into normal clothing. John-O and I fired up Mark T.’s grill and literally threw some shrimp on the barby. Nothing is better than soy and ginger shrimp at 4 in the morning. After this feast of shrimp, kabobs, and giyoza (pot sticker dumplings) we decided to hike down to the beach to watch the sunrise over the ocean.


BEST IDEA EVER! The hike brought a wave of energy after a sleepless night. The beach had no sand; mostly cold black rocks and driftwood. So being the only somewhat outdoorsy person in the group I gathered some driftwood and started a fire to warm us all up as we waited for the sun to come up. And for those of you who have never done it, nothing is a better party trick than starting a fire with nothing but a lighter, gathered wood, and dry bamboo leaves.

So while sitting next to all my newly found friends on cold black rock, we warmed our hands over the small fire and watch in awe as nature continued the spectacle that is Japan in the early morning. I’m sure you are all wondering where the pictures of this magical event are. Regretfully my camera ran out of batteries on the ride to Mark T.’s house and no one had any extra ones. Bummer right! Anyway, this weekend left me more tired than I ever thought possible, but the memories were well worth it.

Japan has now surpassed everything I could have expected, and gone seemingly beyond my ability to describe. There are many words for beauty. But, none of then seem to accurately represent the sights and feelings I’m experiencing on a weekly, perhaps daily basis. All I can do it seems is try my best to chronicle what I see and hope that the combination of captured images and my written interpretation of splendor can communicate on some level what I am experiencing here. I miss my friends and family very much back in the states and hope everyone is doing well. I’ll post again later this week.

Until next time. . . .

The Mountain, the Bibbed Buddha, and Everything Geothermic

It’s official I am trapped in a perpetual state of joy and wonder that is thankfully balanced by extreme exhaustion. If I didn’t collapse on to my bed by midnight every day my heart would surely explode out of pure wonder. This weekend my entire class went to Japan’s first national park, Unzen. The town of Unzen is built right below a Geothermic (word of the day, kids) Sulfur Spring. This means that scalding hot naturally heated sulfur water is constantly pumping through the drains of this small mountain town. This circulation of heated water give the town a very T.S. Elliot like feel as yellow white smoke curls around most of the buildings hiding Shinto gates, friendly cats, and fruit vendors. We stayed in a very nice hotel that has harnessed the water from the hot springs and pumps it into their huge bathhouse. Naturally this water, having a high concentration of sulfur, smells like . . . farts. In truth the whole town had a slight sulfur stink. I loved this weekend despite all that.

We started the trip with a much needed venture into the wilderness. Unzen is also home to one of Japan’s live volcanoes. The mountain we climbed is right next to this smoking, smoldering, heap of volcanic ash which is clearly and ominously visible from the top. The hike was a rather intense lesson in Mother Nature’s ability to create breathtaking, magnificent, ass-kicking landscapes. Most of the hiking was up hill and joyously physically challenging (I’ve been craving physical activity). There are many things I could say about breathtaking views after hours of climbing rocky, ankle turning, “steps” that led up to the summit, but none of those words seem to do it justice. The climb was simply everything I’d hoped to do in Japan. During my adventure I came across two Buddhas wearing bibs, overlooking the surrounding harbor and rice fields, a view of a rippling field of tall golden wheat like grass, and a freezing wind swept mountain top whose rocks have seen thousands upon thousands of faces come and go. After this epic five-hour hike, we raced back to the hotel, and slipped into comfortable mint green pajamas. The next two hours were spent talking about how unbelievably nice it is to sit in a warm room filled with steam and scalding water after freezing our buns off on the windy mountain decent.

One thing to know is that when the Japanese go to these bathhouses their goal is to take as many baths as possible during their overnight stay. It is common for most Japanese visitors to take upwards of 5 baths in one stay. Thus, the bathhouse stays open 23 hours a day. I find myself again at a loss for words to describe the joy of eating a simple and clean meal of baked salmon with miso soup, jasmine rice, and an assortment of pickles that look nothing like anything most western pallets would consider edible (all of them were delicious). All of this served with green tea and cold water, and just after dinner you return to the soothing hot waters for another soak. Then up to my culture professor’s room for a drink of Japanese Whiskey (they don’t make it very well) and down to the karaoke bar for fun with friends who sing just as bad as or worse than me. After a two A.M. round three of hot spring goodness, I crashed happily into my bed.


A quick note on my sleep in Japan. I don’t think I have ever slept so well for a month straight. No restless nights since the jetlag wore off.

The next day came and we were back on the bus and pulling away from the cool mountain air and smiling faces of the waving hotel staff (that’s right, the hotel staff comes out to wave goodbye to all their guests). We stopped at the actual geothermic geyser sight on our way out of town. This was a strange vision of a sci-fi moonscape combined with a Brazil- (the movie) esque piping system that runs the naturally heated water all through the town. It was great for taking pictures but hard on the nostrils.

I’m sorry, this post feels completely scatterbrained in comparison to the incredibly clear sensation I had while I was in the moment. I guess it goes to show that even though you write down your experiences and try to put emotions into words sometimes certain moments are simply indescribable. I can’t convey just how magical this weekend was but I hope that my pictures and these words give all those who can’t experience this with me a glimpse into my experience. Again I’ve posted everything on Flickr, and hope all is well with my friends and family.

Till next time.

Walking Dead

OK. . . so here is the deal. I've uploaded a whole slew of new pictures to flickr but it is late tonight and I have a very full day of classes tomorrow. I'll go into depth about my amazing weekend tomorrow, but for now I leave you with pictures and the promise of many great stories. Much love to everyone back home. I'm gonna pass out.

up to speed

This past week was relatively uneventful in comparison to the past two weeks. Danny, Jon-O, Xander, Chris, K, EO, and I went to Iojima again. Brought swimming gear this time and went for a very nice swim on a beautiful sunny day. We gave ourselves more time to relax in the hot springs this time as well. It was great, and helped me fall right to sleep Sunday night.
Many of you back home have been asking frequent questions about my classes, well here’s the skinny:

I am enrolled in Japanese Literature, Japanese History, Japanese Culture, Peace Study, Introduction to Japanese, Traditional Japanese Arts, Aikido, and an Independent Study. I’ve now been in each class at least twice so I’m past first impressions. In Japan classes meet once a week for an hour and a half. However, I have my language class 4 days a week (the more you use it the faster you can assimilate it). My favorite classes are without a doubt Peace Study and Japanese History. The professors are both English majors and history buffs, who also happen to be married to Japanese women from Nagasaki and have the cutest kids EVER! These classes are highly discussion based and go by very quickly. The culture class is interesting, but not as discussion focused. The literature class is more focused on learning about the culture, and reading a little of the literature (NOT WHAT I WANTED, but I like the professor and the discussion is interesting). Traditional arts and Aikido are not academic classes; they are ninety minutes of joy. My Aikido master speaks no English, is about 73, and pushes and throws me around like I were nothing. My traditional arts teacher varies from day to day, thus far we’ve covered Kimono wearing, Flower arranging, and Calligraphy. None of those instructors spoke any English either.

The random little moments continue to well up in day-to-day life. Last Wednesday it rained all day nonstop, full on, open the floodgates and let it go! At times I couldn’t see the town below my school.

More recently today I was reading for Peace Studies, and my friend EO (who is a 5foot fireball of joy) came up to me and asked what my major was. I told her English. Her eyes widened and a smile crackled across her face like lightning. She then shouted a stream of Japanese that I couldn’t begin to understand, and a few minutes later explained to me that English was also her major. She has asked me to, “Please helping me to study . . . Help me study English. It is difficult.” You have to understand EO is perhaps the physical incarnation of the friendliest puppy you ever met. She is a blast to be around. I’m finding more and more Japanese friends all the time, and I can’t even begin to say what a joy and help they are in travel and day to day life. I’ve updated Flickr again posting more photos. Keep the questions coming I’ll do my best to answer them.

To The Four Gates. . . MOTOCOII!!

I’m in a crowd of around three thousand cheering Japanese. It’s 2:14 and I’m watching a performance (the fourth one today) that hasn’t changed in 370 years. The crowd enters into a call and response cheer of motocoii , motocoii. . . . MOTOCOII! MOTOCOII! (come back, come back), and with it the taiko drums start up again with a violent torrent of heart pounding theatrics. A giant two ton float carried on the backs of sixty some Japanese men all singing their town's anthem comes crashing into the center arena. The men cheer to each other and spin the two ton hand made float 360 degrees with surprising speed. Then with great effort they hoist the float of the shachihoko (golden dragon carp) over their heads, and with a one, two, three . . . they throw the float, with children drummers still onboard, four feet into the air. Their hands shoot up in unison and the crowd goes ballistic. They chant and spin more and begin to take their leave. The masses scream MOTOCOII MOTOCOII!!! The group returns and throws the two-ton float three more times before rhythmically moving on to the next free demonstration.

That was just one of my experiences over the past twenty four hours of body punishing wonder that is Kunchi. Kunchi is a 370 year old Shinto festival that was created to expose illegal Christians in Japan, and also to celebrate the fall harvest. My Kunchi experiences started at 9:15 last night. Danny and I went to Suwa Shrine, Nagasaki’s largest Shinto shrine, to spend the night in possibly the most important ticket line of my life. The seats to the first performances of Kunchi were sold out many months ago for hundreds of dollars each, but like many concerts they reserve some tickets to sell at the door. So, 15 other JASIN students and I spent the night under four magnificent stone Shinto spirit gates all to get the FREE 5a.m. public seating. My night passed quickly. Most of my time was spent wandering lost in thought through the inner garden of the shrine. This garden was a green mass of gnarled trees, coy ponds, and chirping crickets that overlooked the fluorescent glow of the buzzing Nagasaki nightlife. 5 a.m. was announced with fireworks and drums. A short parade of priests lead us to our free vantage point under the huge doors at the top of a long flight of cobble stone steps. In actuality I had a very poor view of the opening performances, but the exuberance of the crowd, and the heart pounding drums and cheers made up for my less than desirable point of view.

The festival opened with the Celebration Boat float and traditional sword dance. Incredible to say the least, and the float ended it's fourth cycle of spinning and charging forward by releasing a flock of white doves. Danny and I decided to go home for a bit, try to sleep, and get up later for the town center performances that would be easier to see. I couldn’t sleep at all. The drumming combined with the festive colors of silk kimonos and beauty of the Japanese traditions picked me up and didn’t put me down until about an hour ago. We saw two other traditional dances and two more float performances today. The first float I described is the local favorite. Kunchi is not a Nagasaki only festival. In truth it happens all over Japan, but Nagasaki’s Kunchi is rumored to be more intense and diverse than any of the others. The most famous of all Kunchi performances is the Chinese Dragon float. This float is a massive dragonhead of wood and neon paint that has a snaking body supported by poles carried by men dressed in purple and gold robes. The pole bearers move the beast with surprising realism. Just ahead of the head a man in all golden robes carries a spinning golden ball. This “dragon ball” represents desire and physical needs. The dragon eternally peruses its desires but never catches them. Interestingly enough Kunchi is also a festival of fertility. The Dragon dance is an incredibly fast performance involving each man on the dragon dashing about in serpentine patterns after this golden figure, as a band of thirty people plays strange horns that sound like elephant screams, drums, and cymbals. Today truly was breathtaking. It is highly doubtful that my words can accurately describe the spectacle and wonder I threw myself into today. Kunchi will continue for the next two days. I hope to see the other five performances I missed. On the slightly materialistic side, every performance group has a bandanna that is unique to this year. They throw some of these into the crowd, but the shrine also sells a complete set of all of this year’s bandannas. For those of you that know me. . . this was a mandatory purchase. So my first souvenirs from Japan are seven beautiful bandannas.

One moment that really stuck out in the mass of incredible moments is a stunning example of Japanese kindness and spirit. Danny and I were on our way to get some water before we sat in line all night. Just outside of the convenience store a middle aged Japanese man stopped us and asked if we were Americans and were we here for Kunchi. We said yes, and he proceeded to gently but intensely insist on buying us beers in celebration. So for the next hour we sipped Asashi dry, and talked of our studies, lives, and the meaning of Kunchi. Our friend tried to buy us multiple more beers, and became very chummy with us as he drank more. We eventually parted ways to go stand in line. I find that level of generosity towards guests astonishing. I can’t imagine someone in the states just pulling me off the streets and saying, “are you here for the Honey Festival? LETS DRINK TOGETHER! WELCOME!” This country is full of that incredible kindness and generosity.

I’m deathly tired, and need to do homework. I’ve posted more pictures on flickr. Please, enjoy, and know that I wish that all of my friends and family back home could have experienced the past 27 hours with me.

this is what I'm spending my day watching! Much much more to come.

Born Out of Despiration.

Well folks it finally happened. I met the food that bested me. Tremble and cower in fear at the name of Natto.

Natto is a four step process: step 1. place rotten soybeans in a bowl, step 2. mix in the black mystery sauce (this should produce a grey white film on the beans and serves to get the fungal aroma started, step 3. mix in remaining two clear mystery sauces (this, once stirred well, will produce a thick stringy slimy texture), step 4. eat natto. Natto can be mixed into virtually any food, our host mother said to eat it on rice.

Natto has what can best be described as a virulent taste. Imagine if you will the smell of 6 day old coffee grounds left in the sun. Now taste that smell and mix it with the texture of something slug like and perhaps a little bitter lettuce or old lemon. That is what it is like to eat natto. If you should come across this food in any of your travels I recomend you try it and then make the decision for yourself. However, I`ve made my choice, and from now on I`m staying far . . . far away from natto.