The Muroran Chronicles

We've Moved!

2009-04-13T01:38:00.001+09:00

So I guess that by now, not really anyone comes by and checks this blog out anymore, but on the off chance that someone does...

I moved to Matsue last year, and now that I'm online in my new digs, I've decided to start a new blog.

The Matsue Chronicles. (I like to stay with a certain theme whenever possible.)

Swing on by.

Long Time Gone

2008-02-26T18:55:00.004+09:00

Happy New Year?

Okay, so I'm a bit late for that. And Valentine's Day. And President's Day. et cetera ad infinitum ad naseum.

Life here at the Casa Kidd Muroran Branch is...hectic, for reasons that those of you who are in the know already know, and also know why I can't quite write them here yet.

Let's see...updates updates updates...

The writing continues, which is the main thing that keeps me from updating here. I'm on article #77, which is due tomorrow morning, so tonight's going to be a late night. It's about the time my good buddy Dave visited me here in Japan. I've pretty much got the rest of the topics set up for my roll into article #100.

Mom and Dad Come To Japan
Oregon Trail
Hakuta and Australia
From Hakuta to Izumo
In The Hospital
Out On Iki
Misogi Time
Ikeda-san and Tamura Shrine
Hateruma
Modern-Day Ruins
Super English
From Shimane to Hokkaido
Translation
Koboro
Dad's 60th
Sayonara, Wasabi-kun
Chihoku
Dead Tourism
Mashike

Still trying to work out a few of the kinks in this list, but most of my subjects have been chosen.

So as long as I get a few extra articles written in the next couple of days, things should be pretty smooth running from here on out. I need to lock myself in a quiet room on the second floor of the school or something. Especially since I don't have any classes for the next two days. Take advantage of the chances, and stay the heck away from the Internet.

Singing continues as well...if you get a chance, do a search for "Perfect on Friday" on YouTube. You might find something like this...

Thank you Rocksaw!

My other band and I have a couple of shows coming up, one on March 2nd and one on March 9th.

Songs include...
Proud Mary (CCR)
Get Back (The Beatles)
Superstition (yeah, by THAT Stevie Wonder)
Long Train Running (Doobie Brothers)
Vehicle (Ides of March)
Whiter Shade of Pale (Procul Harum)
and more...

Anybody reading this who knows me from high school should have a good laugh at the whole idea of me singing Stevie, but hey, the bassist suggested it.

I've started up a Facebook page too, and have been posting a lot of photos over there. It's a little easier there is all. Look me up and check out the pics.

Oh, my car has a new engine.

Yeah. The seals holding in the oil weren't put on correctly, and last week on my way back from the airport, they slipped off and my car started leaking oil and making funny noises. I called up the dealer, they took it in to check on it, and I got a call that afternoon that said they weren't sure what the cause was, but they were darn sure going to find out. AND it looked like an engine replacement was necessary.

So I got my car back on Sunday, with a BRAND SPANKIN NEW ENGINE! Woo-hoo! Reset those near 40,000 kilometers I've put on Hello-kun!

Oh, and what with being in Hokkaido and all, I've been skiing quite a bit. (No boarding, as I have been threatened with physical violence by a couple of my cousins who shall remain nameless here ***coughcoughScottNathancoughcough*** if I ever started snowboarding.) Three days in Hidaka (work, no less!) followed by a day out at Niseko. Good times, good snow, good God my body hurts. heh heh

That's about it, I guess.

The Brisbane Chronicles: Shark Biscuit and Other Tales of the Bizarre

2007-12-10T16:41:00.000+09:00

On Saturday (12/8), I hopped on a train and headed down to the Gold Coast.

I've heard a lot of talk about the Gold Coast, and with it so close, I figured I should head down and see what all the fuss was about.

Plus, my compadre in crime, Jack, threatened me with physical violence if I didn't go surfing while I was in Australia.

"Dustin, I will NEVER be able to go surfing in Australia, so if you don't go while you are there, I will inflict a thousand years of pain on you."

Alllllllllrighty then. A-surfin' I will go.

I made reservations through the International House and was all ready to go. A quick stop off in Harbour Town to pick up a rash vest and visit my friend Ashley's mom, and then it was on the bus to...

SURFER'S PARADISE!!!!!!

Let's just say that the name fits.

A gorgeous beach, gorgeous sun tanners, and too damn many surfers in a small area. It was nice, but I wish we could have spread out a bit more and not had to deal with all the bloody galahs (see: idiots) who couldn't figure out where the swimming area was.

I stood up on my board for about one thousandth of a second before the board went one way and I the other, but all in all, it was a fun experience.

By the way, the words "Shark Biscuit" in the title refer to people like me. It's Aussie slang for new surfers.

*******************************************

I always thought Japan had the market cornered on all things bizarre, but today I found myself proven wrong. It's pretty bizarre Down Under as well.

I was shopping for some souvenirs at an Australian Souvenir shop in the Queen Street Mall today, when I heard a familiar song come over the radio.

Bam-bada-bada, bam-bada-bada, bam-bada-bada, badabadabadabada...

(Trust me, it'll make sense in a minute.)

A bit of a country-fried intro, if I do say so myself...

Then the lyrics kicked in.

Big wheels keep on turning,
carry me home to see my kin
singing songs about the southland.
I miss ole bamy once again and I think it's a sin.
Well, I heard Mister Young sing about her.
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down.
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
a southern man don't need him around anyhow.

Hold on...

Lynrd?

Sweet home Alabama, where the skies are so blue.
Sweet home Alabama, Lord, I'm coming home to you.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, in an Australian souvenir store in Brisbane, they were playing Lynrd Skynrd's "Sweet Home Alabama".

Welcome to the Big Leagues, Australia.

Japan, you've got competition.

The Brisbane Chronicles: Kicked Outta The Bar

2007-12-09T23:34:00.000+09:00

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Well, this is a first. "May I ask why?"

"Well sir, you see..."

Wait.

Let me back up to the beginning.

Last Thursday, I headed out on the town with some friends I'd made here. We decided to hit one of the local pubs for dinner and drinks.

I'd found a place called The Union Jack in the downtown area of Brisbane, and I figured that would be a fun place to go. Besides, you're pretty much guaranteed that you'll be able to find good whiskey at a place called The Union Jack.

So we met up at 7, and headed over to the pub. We ordered some drinks, some fish and chips, and my personal favorite, shepherd's pie.

Oh, and a whiskey.

Thursday nights at The Union Jack, you can buy a card for $10 that gets you four drinks. The only problem is that they sell the card every OTHER hour, and we'd just missed the cut-off for the card. No big deal, just wait until 8 and then go to the counter and get one.

So we sat and talked and enjoyed our dinner, and when I checked my watch again, it was after 8.

$10 drink card time!

I headed to the front entrance to buy a card when a rather burly-looking bloke stepped up to me and said:

"Sir, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Well, this is a first. "May I ask why?"

"Well sir, you see, we have a dress code, and I can't let you in if you're only wearing shorts."

But I've been here for the past hour?

"I come on at 8, and that's when our dress code starts. You're going to have to leave."

Can I at least go back in and get my stuff?

"Oh yeah, sure mate."

Be right back.

So I head back to the table, explain to my friends that I've just been kicked out for wearing shorts, finish off what's left of my whiskey and the shepherd's pie, and head back out, telling my friends that I'll wait for them to catch up.

"Hey mate, sorry about that, but it's the rules."

No worries. It's just kinda funny. Who in their right mind would wear pants when it's as hot as it is?

"True. Most places around here have that rule though. Nothing I can do."

Like I said, no worries. I enjoyed the place though. Maybe I'll come back for lunch sometimes.

"Right. Dress code doesn't start until 8, so you'd be good then."

Yep. Well, here come my friends. Take it easy.

And then we headed off to another outdoor bar that wasn't as strict in their clothing requirements.

Thus ends the tale of the first time I ever got kicked out of a bar.

Oh, and in case anybody out there reading this would like to get a hold of me directly, my e-mail is yoshiwatari (at) hotmail (dot) com. Hope to hear from you, Sebastian. Thanks for the comment on my last post, and thanks for looking me up!

The Brisbane Chronicles - G'Day From Down Under

2007-11-29T10:06:00.000+09:00

G'day mates! How ya goin'?

Summer in November. Water spiralling down the drain the opposite way. Santa coming to town on a surfboard.

That's right! I'm in the Land of Oz - Australia!

Starfish High decided to have our month-long Intensive Language Course held in another English-speaking country other than the States this year.

Although, sometimes I wonder if you can really call this English. (I keed, I keed!)

Yours truly got sent along to keep the unruly bunch from going wrong.

What a difference a year can make.

Australia is a really great country. I'm having a blast. Water dragons in the backyard, possums on the telephone lines, eight million different kinds of deadly animals on land and in the water...

Australia...It's FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAntastic.

But seriously, I'm having a ball. We went to the Lone Pine Koala Reserve last weekend, and yesterday I went to the XXXX (Fourex) Brewery over in Milton and took the $18 tour.

You get four beers at the end! (It's like making all that money back!)

Good times all around, and when I can get my data downloaded, I'll post some pictures.

The one thing that worries me is the weather shock I'm sure to get when I get back to Muroran. Aussie summer to Hokkaido winter in ten hours...not fun.

Until ya hear from me again, toss some shrimp on the barbie, grab a cuppa, and have a nice time with your bloke or sheila.

Ta!

Adventures In Akabira

2007-10-23T09:54:00.000+09:00

Welcome back, me.

Heh.

The leaves are turning yellow and red, it's a lot cooler in the evenings, our open school events are finished and the Mariners are trying to figure out what they can do to be competitive next season after having a big ol' batch of baseball impotence rise up (hah!) and kill their season before I could watch them suck it up against the A's in early September.

It's fall again.

I had the day off on Monday, so I went out and did some exploring.

Since I'm not a big fan of most of the shrines up here in Hokkaido (and that's a subject for its own post), I've had to search for something else to go out and see while I'm here.

I found my answer. Haikyo. Modern-day ruins. Buildings that have been abandoned and are slowly being reclaimed by nature. Railroad lines that were closed down and had the majority of track pulled up, but still leave evidence that at one time, they were used and loved by the people in the communities they serviced. Mines that have dried up and are no longer economically viable to run.

Hoo-boy, is Hokkaido filled with haikyo.

This time, I headed to a city called Akabira. Located in the formerly coal-rich area of Sorachi in central Hokkaido, Akabira was part of the huge coal mining boom that swept through the island in the last century.

But like most booms, it was a temporary thing, and as the coal ran out, mines started getting closed down, until there were only two left in Hokkaido. One in Kushiro, where they are still mining under the sea floor, and one in Akabira, which was operated by the Sumitomo Coal Mining Company. It held on the longest, finally forced to close down in 1992. The mine shaft complex still looms on the Akabira horizon, and the folks in Akabira have decided to use it as a tourist attraction.

Presumably because there's not a whole heck of a lot else to use as tourist attractions in Akabira. (I say this with love.)

A few weeks ago, the Sapphire Princess luxury cruise liner came to Muroran, and once again the staff and students of Starfish High headed out into Muroran to volunteer as translators for all of the rich people that came into town. The event was successful, and at a celebration some of the staff had a few weeks later, I met a woman who works in Akabira promoting "dead tourism", as she put it, in comparison to "live tourism", which is what we pulled off in Muroran.

Basically, she works with a group that encourages tourism of the old, no-longer-running (i.e. "dead") coal mining areas in Sorachi.

So with a day off coming up, I called her and said I was heading that way and would be there sometime after 9 AM. (She had a meeting at 10.)

Up and out the door at 6 AM Monday morning. (I'll have plenty of time to sleep in when the snow falls and the insane Hokkaido drivers make me fear for my life out on snowy, icy roads.) And as promised, I made it to Akabira just after 9.

Ms. Uemura, my kind and courteous host, met me at a local convenience store and set me up with some people to show me around town, apologizing that she couldn't. Which just made me feel bad, because she was taking time out of her (what seemed to be an insanely) busy schedule to help some white dude with a camera slung on his shoulder go around and look at mines.

So before heading off to her meeting, she introduced me to Mr. Kato, who is a haikyo fan like myself and took me on a quick trip through town.

First, he took me to a lesser-known mine, the Fukuzumi Shaft, which is completely overgrown, not that easy to find, plus it's not even all that known among the people in Akabira.

The Fukuzumi Shaft.

We also went and saw the Akama "Zuri" mountain. "Zuri" is a term used in Hokkaido to describe the slag and cast-off from mines, and it was often piled up so high that it made small mountains.

Then it was over to The Main Attraction.

The Sumitomo Coal Mine building, preserved since its closing. "Preserved" in this case meaning "not torn down and merely left to the elements, with the most basic touch-ups done to the outside, because Sumitomo didn't have enough money to tear it down".

The crows seem to like it, anyway.

After a quick peek at the outside of the building, we swung over to see the old power plant for the mine, and then it was over to the coal mining museum, which was converted from an elementary school.

Ms. Uemura made a phone call, and some dude from city hall showed up to open the museum up, as it is usually closed on Mondays.

NOTE: WHILE I CANNOT VOUCH FOR OTHER AREAS OF JAPAN, YOU ARE PRETTY MUCH GUARANTEED THAT MOST PUBLIC FACILITIES (MUSEUMS, ETC.) WILL BE CLOSED ON MONDAYS IN HOKKAIDO.

This is a fact that I remembered upon arrival in Akabira. Oops.

The museum was very informative, with a lot of material and equipment of display. Thank you, city hall dude.

Then Mr. Kato and I headed back to the mine, because he had just recieved a call from Ms. Uemura telling him she had made another one of her phone calls and now some guy was coming over to actually OPEN UP THE MINE BUILDING.

Mr. Yamaguchi, general manager for Sumitomo Coal Mining Company Ltd., met us and let us inside.

So I got the official tour. Which apparently usually requires a lot of paperwork but this time only took a phone call.

Thank you, Ms. Uemura!

Mr. Kato (Thank you, too!) had to take off, so Mr. Yamaguchi took me around to see a few more places.

Like the company bath building, where workers would go to clean up after eight hours (or so) in the mine. It is also the place where the currently store some hazardous materials (not photos permitted), so apparently no one except company personnel get in there. Perhaps this is another example of the Gaijin Smash.

I also got to visit the equipment display garage, where some of the machinery used in the mine is on display. Mr. Yamaguchi told me that the majority of the equipment is "sleeping underground", sealed up in the mine when they closed it off.

He had to get to a meeting as well, so I thanked him for his time (which he made perfectly obvious was being provided to me ONLY because of Ms. Uemura's call) and left.

A couple more shots of the mine from outside.

Fall leaves...
...and some very beautiful flowers.

Ms. Uemura called me and told me to meet up with her at a restaurant run by her mother, where I could have anything on the menu. A croquette rice bowl and mini curry and rice later, she arrived from her meeting. I thanked her profusely, and offered any help that I might be able to give if she ever needed any English translation work done. Then I was on my way.

Through Utashinai and Kamisunagawa, and down into Ashibetsu, past Lake Katsurazawa...

...where I got this shot.

Then over into Mikasa City, where I got a few shots of the Ponbetsu Mine Shaft.

And then I went home.

Well, That's Not All Bad...

2007-08-24T16:48:00.000+09:00

You scored as Charlie, You're Charlie! Sweet, adorable and caring but with a bit of a bad habit.

Charlie

94%

Kate

75%

Locke

75%

Jack

63%

Hurley

50%

Sun

50%

Boone

44%

Sawyer

38%

Claire

38%

Shannon

38%

Jin

31%

Michael

25%

Sayid

25%

Who is your "Lost" alter ego?
created with QuizFarm.com

Heh.

I like "Lost". Anxiously waiting for Season 3 to come out on DVD.

(Hint, hint, nudge, nudge Mom and Dad)

And So It Begins...

2007-08-22T21:07:00.000+09:00

I've officially entered my third year of employment at Starfish High.

Hard to believe that it's been two years already.

Life in The North Country. Good ol' Ezo.

Good food.

Great scenery.

Wonderful people.

Absolutely beautiful place to travel around in.

And yet I find myself asking that classic question that was posed so well by The Clash.

I suppose I'll find the answer soon enough.

On a completely unrelated note, I went to an exhibition of Salvador Dali's artwork at the Hokkaido Museum Of Modern Art on Sunday. Love me some Dali.

It was quite possibly one of the most intense experiences of my life. I never thought that I would get the chance to see actual Dali artwork outside of a textbook or slide show. And yet there it was. I had a big ol' dopey grin on my face for the hour and a half I spent there. Just absolutely incredible.

I also attended my first overnight outdoor music festival, Rising Sun Rock Festival 2007 on Friday and Saturday. All Japanese bands, but a really cool event. The toilet situation ended up being pretty bad by the end, but for two days it was music and fun. Having a barbecue and drinking until the sun came up on Saturday morning was fun, but it kind of put a damper on Saturday. I ended up bailing out to the tent early on Saturday and not watching the whole thing. That was okay, because you could still hear all the music all the way out to my tent.

Good times.

Yet that question still lurks...

This Is Why I Love The Internet

2007-08-22T14:20:00.000+09:00

Two of my favorite TV shows, brought together in one glorious video.

(Courtesy of College Humor)

I'm An Uncle!

2007-08-12T23:40:00.000+09:00

Hey everyone!

I know it's been a long while since my last update...

July was busy.

Starfish High's school festival was on the 30th of June and 1st of July. Sang "Popsicle Toes", a jazz song, on the 30th, and "Festival Preparations", a punk song, on the 1st. Both sets kicked major ass.

The next day I flew home. That was for P-dog's wedding, and the old KB gang got back together again. Everyone looked great, and I got more than a few "update the darn blog" comments.

This will happen. Just not yet.

So P-dog is one happy newlywed. Good to see, good to see.

After coming back, I made a trip to Furano to take some pics of the lavender that Furano is famous for. Mom and Sis are BIG lavender fans, and I promised them some photos. Keep an eye out for those here.

A slow week followed, and then I went on a big adventure for the big three-oh. Yep, yours truly turned 30 on July 30th. Abandoned train lines, hot springs way up in the mountains, more fresh seafood than you can shake a stick at, crab meat, a festival, and many many miles under the tires of my car.

Pics from this trip will also appear...sometime.

Good times.

And now, official word has arrived. On August 12, 2007, at around 2AM, I became an uncle. My kid sister gave birth to William Ravi Mallory, her own little pod person. (I mean this in total good fun.) How tough is my sister? It was an all-natural birth. No drugs, no IV, no nothing.

This is why I live in Japan. She scares me so damn much that I'm afraid to be in the same country with her for very long.

Anyway, congrats to And, Mark, William, and the new Grandma and Grandpa Kidd.

Oh, and Uncle Dustin, too.

300

2007-06-13T14:48:00.000+09:00

Went and saw "300" the other day...

Trailer 1

Trailer 2

Must buy DVD...

Spartan goodness with healthy doses of over-the-top violence, although I wonder how a Spartan king ends up with a Scottish accent...

Absolutely cool stuff, but I can see how someone might come up with the idea for this video...

This is good too...

Articles are coming along well. I got #29 and #30 sent off, and need to work on my next two tonight. Sometimes it's easy, but a lot of times it can be really hard to write those things.

Back to work...

This One's For Dad

2007-06-07T02:09:00.000+09:00

Talk about it at Videocracy

ummm...yee-haw?

Working on articles 29 and 30 for this week...

I'm writing about the time I caught a 103 degree fever and had to go to the hospital, and then about one of my teachers at Shimane U.

My first article hit the papers Tuesday, and I got a copy in the mail today. Looks good...

Have to get those things done by tomorrow night, as I'm heading off to Tokyo on Friday for a wedding.

A Big Announcement

2007-06-02T07:17:00.000+09:00

So what's the reason behind my utter lack of blogwork, especially since the New Year started?

Well...

I am writing a series of 100 articles for a Japanese newspaper.

I'm trying to finish up #27 and #28 right now, actually.

My articles will start being published this Tuesday, and will be published weekly on Tuesdays and Thursdays after that, over a total of 50 weeks.

Some are easier to write than others, but overall it's being a fun experience.

Oh yeah, and all the articles are in Japanese.

Anyway, that's the deal. Most of my writing energy is being funnelled into that project. I'll do my best to keep things going on this page too, though.

In the meantime, enjoy this video.

Mom and Dad Visit Japan - 3/23/2007 to 4/4/2007

2007-05-23T16:20:00.000+09:00

These are some pictures from when Mom and Dad came to visit me here in Hokkaido from March 23rd to April 4th, 2007. A 2,500 kilometer trip all over Hokkaido.

The ever-popular Kani Goden, a huge tourist trap in Shiraoi that features not only a giant wooden bear and salmon on its roof, but also a giant crab on the roadside sign.

A whole bundle of English teachers came out for a party for my folks at Rantaro. Thanks to everyone who came!

Out at Cape Chikyu.

We took a tour of the forge at the Japan Steel Mills factory here in Muroran. They make swords!

Mom, Dad, and a Samani sunset.

Mom and Dad at Cape Erimo.

At Marumatsu Shokudo with the lady that runs the place. Damn good butadon.

Mom and Dad in a wine barrel at the Tokachi Winery in Ikeda.

This is the place I talked about in this post. Mom and Dad loved it too.

Words cannot even describe...

...how absolutely unnecessary it was to plow this road. Makes a good photo, though.

At Lake Mashu, which is famous for being covered in fog. We lucked out.

Swans at Lake Kussharo.

This is carved from wood, and is HUGE.

Eisaku showing off his ninja skillz.

We all went out for tempura shrimp rice bowls here. That's Eisaku and Aoki with Mom and Dad. You should have seen the smile on Dad's face.

At Ippuku-tei with Araki-san, the night before Mom and Dad left to go back.

9/30/2006 - Shakotan Peninsula and The Cape of Divine Power

2007-05-23T14:47:00.000+09:00

These are pictures from a trip Eisaku and I took out to the Shakotan Peninsula on September 30, 2006.

Koikawa Hot Springs, just outside of Niseko.

A herring fishing house in Tomari.

"Please give me the hand of your daughter in marriage!"

Shakotan Peninsula.

The view while walking out to the edge of the cape.

Back the way we came.

Kamui Misaki, The Cape Of Divine Power.

And masculine symbolism...

Sun and ocean...

Talk about blue...

Eisaku and Dustin, at it again.

The view back the way we came.

An old radar station, perhaps?

Eisaku at sunset

Shakotan Peninsula, viewed from the other side.

While I'm At It...

2007-05-22T09:36:00.000+09:00

Here's some photos I took during the massive week-long national holiday in Japan known as Golden Week.

Driving alongside the coast just north of Rumoi, I saw this sunset. It's just a sunset, not a nuclear explosion.

I visited an abandoned coal mine area in the hills outside of Haboro, about an hour north of Rumoi. I climbed up a rusty staircase to the top of the tallest building there and got this photo.

I'm lucky I didn't fall down in a hole or get eaten by a bear.

A shrine gate in Shosanbetsu, a town a little further up the coast.

The sun setting behind Rishiri Island, which is basically a mountain that pokes up out of the ocean.

The sunrise, taken at Cape Soya, the northernmost point in Japan.

On the ferry out to Rishiri Island.

I rented a scooter to zip around the island. 3000 yen for 6 hours. Not a bad deal.

So Much For Those Updates...

2007-05-22T08:58:00.000+09:00

There's a big project I'm working on that's keeping me from getting on here much, but once that's up and rolling I'll make an announcement about it here.

Of course, those of you who are in the know already know, but...

I'll be heading home from July 2nd to the 9th for a good friend's wedding. And it better damn well not be a shallow representation of a wedding...

All kidding aside, congrats Pat.

I've been up in Sapporo the past couple of weekends, and I've notcied one thing...

Even though Sapporo is one of the top ten largest cities in Japan, when I get back to Muroran the air here smells dirtier, like chemicals. Yeesh...

Saw "Smoking Aces" last weekend. Hitman goodness all around.

Heading to Sapporo again this weekend for a friend's band's concert...

"300" finally comes out here in a couple weeks. CAN NOT WAIT.

And on that comic book-related note, here is my latest personality test.

Your results:
You are The Joker
The Clown Prince of Crime. You are a brilliant mastermind but are criminally insane. You love to joke around while accomplishing the task at hand.

Click here to take the Supervillain Personality Quiz

So true, so true...

Hallelujah! Praise Be To Beans!

2007-04-16T23:31:00.000+09:00

This stuff is just too funny to pass up.

Enjoy them. They may not be on YouTube for long.

Ellensburg

2007-04-15T17:47:00.000+09:00

I have a lot of good memories of this town. Finding this video brought a lot of them back.

Strange to think that it was 11 1/2 years ago that I started school there.

You never know where you're going to end up. Maybe I can get back there again next time around the dial.

This really is a damn good video.

Ere...Umm, I Mean, Election Season

2007-04-08T13:34:00.001+09:00

For those of you out there who have had the good fortune to be in Japan when an election is going on, you already know what I'm about to delve into...

But for those who have yet to be so lucky, here we go...

Election season in Japan equals campaign cars.

Kinda like the ones in Back To The Future Part 1 ("Vote for Goldie Wilson!"), except on horse steroids.

The really bad kind.

The worst part is when they drive right by your house at 8:30 on a Saturday morning when you're trying to enjoy a rare opportunity to sleep in.

Let me see if text can convey it...

Me: (snore)

Campaign Car: (off in the distance) vote for me...thank you, thank you...vote for me...

Me: (muttering) mrfffrmmff ffmrff?

CC: (getting closer now) vote for me...thank you, thank you...vote for me...

Me: (a few grunts, roll over, put the pillow over my head)

CC: (still a few blocks away, but already causing dogs to bark and the Baby Jesus to cry) Vote for me...Thank you, thank you...Vote for me...

Me: (starting to curse this cruel world that we live in, yet still attempting to sleep) razzin' frazzin' mrrffrmffrff

CC: (just up the street, now shaking the foundation of my apartment and opening up holes in the space-time continuum) Vote For Me...Thank You, Thank You...Vote For Me...

Me: (reaching for my shotgun, realizing I don't have one in Japan, and going to the fridge for some rotten eggs I've saved for just THIS occasion) I hate election season...I hate election season...I hate election season...

CC: (stopping directly in front of my apartment, as if to punish me for a deed I committed in a previous life, and calling up the Lord Cthulhu from his primordial prison to come into our dimension and eat the world) VOTE FOR ME!!! THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!! VOTE FOR ME!!!

Me: (stepping out on to my doorstep clad in Rambo: First Blood Part II gear and preparing to start World War III all by myself) YOU STUPID IGNORANT FOOLS!!!! I DON'T EVEN HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE HERE!!!!!!!

CC: (speeds off in fear at the sight of crazed white man in Japan)

Me: HULK SMASH PUNY CAMPAIGN VAN!!!

(as I proceed to destroy 20 city blocks in my rage)

Life As Of Late

2007-04-03T01:02:00.000+09:00

Mark Twain said it best...

"The rumors of my demise, and of my blog's demise, have been greatly exaggerated."

Well, maybe not the blog part...

So it's April, and as every person in Japan will tell you, it's sakura season.

Aah yes, sakura. The cherry blossom which represents the fleetful nature of life.

The ultimate goal of the samurai...to die young much in the same way a cherry blossom falls.

The ultimate goal of the kamikaze pilot...to be recognized on the breeze as the wind blew the blossoms off the trees at Yasukuni Shrine. (Now THERE'S a touchy subject, and I'm throwing in a wheelbarrowload of editorial license here, too.)

The thing is...while they ARE beautiful, they're a tad overdone.

The sakura madness over here will wear you out.

My folks have cherry blossoms at home, and THOSE bear fruit.

The main function sakura serve is to stand around and look beautiful, and not much else. They aren't all that useful.

Much like many young ladies featured in the news lately. And even then the "beauty" is debatable.

Ah well, enough ranting about cherry blossoms. I won't even get to see them up here for another month.

So, why no updates?

I've been busy working on another project that's moving along rather slowly (my fault). I need to concentrate my efforts on that, but I will update when possible.

Another reason? I can't upload photos from my office computer, because it's a piece of crap and doesn't have the programs necessary to effectively access Blogger.

I hate that computer.

This one that I have at home is good, but I need to get a new one with a bit more leeway in the memory department. I love this computer, but it can be slow.

Also, the madre and padre are here, and have been since March 23rd. There's been a lot of preparation for that, and we've been gallivanting around the countryside since they came, so...

Yeah.

Anyway, the blog is still going, and I'm still going. Plan on both of us being around for a while yet.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Check in when you can!

Perfect On Friday

2007-02-18T01:40:00.000+09:00

Here's a few more pics from the Perfect On Friday show...

(All photos courtesy of Mr. Scott Lothes.)

Deutschland

2007-02-16T22:43:00.000+09:00

What other country could host the World Cup and have it lead to this sort of thing happening nine months later?

Pride in my heritage. Boo-yah.

Germany rules.

Pancho and Dusty

2007-02-16T03:28:00.000+09:00

This song makes me cry. I'll admit it.

For Those About To Rock, We Salute You

2007-02-13T17:51:00.000+09:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, Perfect On Friday!

Yesterday, we played our first real show outside of a school event. (The Uzura-en event doesn't count.)

So this is what it means to rock.

Good, good show. Sure, there were mistakes, and I wasn't able to sing exactly like I wanted to at times, but it was a good show.

Our set:
1) Are You Gonna Be My Girl? (Jet)
2) Linda Linda (The Blue Hearts)
3) Saturday Night (50 Kaitenz punk version)
4) Take Lots With Alcohol (Alkaline Trio)
5) Bleed The Freak (Alice In Chains)
6) Aces High (Iron Maiden)

Yeah. You read that last one right. Iron-freakin'-Maiden.

We rocked. Nothing more needs to be said.

Editor's Note: Photos by Scott Lothes

Still Not Ready For Real News...

2007-02-11T22:13:00.000+09:00

...but this should be good for a laugh or two.

Heh.

I Am A Guiness

2007-02-07T00:11:00.000+09:00

Mom and Dad will be SO proud...

You Are Guinness

You know beer well, and you'll only drink the best beers in the world.
Watered down beers disgust you, as do the people who drink them.
When you drink, you tend to become a bit of a know it all - especially about subjects you don't know well.
But your friends tolerate your drunken ways, because you introduce them to the best beers around.

What's Your Beer Personality?

Now We're Cookin' At Scout Camp!

2007-01-24T22:40:00.000+09:00

First off, Happy 2007!

My Internet connection program in my computer was fried, and my computer at school sucks, so I haven't been able to do anything with my Blogger account lately.

Until today.

I removed the connection program and re-installed it, and now everything's fine!

It was pretty messed up. I'd click on the icon to connect, and my computer would restart. It was, at the very least, distressing.

So I'm back!

Woo-hoo!

By the way, my computer at school really does suck. I think I have the crappiest one in the office. I don't have the same fonts as the other computers, the programs in my computer are older, my mouse doesn't work right (You know that scroll button on your mouse? I could roll that thing until I was 286, and it wouldn't scroll down the page.), etc. Old programs means that I can't see some homepages on the net, blah blah blah whah whah whah.

I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

My work computer sucks.

Good to be back though!

And congrats to P-Dog on his engagement!

EXAMS!!!!!!!!

2006-12-14T16:12:00.000+09:00

Mid-terms started today.

Jack and I made sure all of our tests were finished up yesterday, so the next few days will go as smoothly as possible.

I like it when we have tests, because the students are only here in the mornings. Afternoons are free! And since we've changed the way we do our tests, it makes for a lot less stress for us.

So I've been busy with updates!

10/26/2006: The Victors!
10/25/2006: Rakugo Part 1
8/4/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 13: Comics, Guitars, and Cajun Food
8/3/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 12: Coronado
8/2/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 11: Gumbo and Gambit
8/1/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 10: Misadventures Downtown
7/31/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 9: La Jolla and The Fury of The Waves
7/30/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 8: 29 and Counting (Up)

Apologies

2006-12-12T15:19:00.000+09:00

My Internet connection at home has been a little wacko as of late, so the updates have been slow in coming.

I'm going to get back to work on updating some more stuff soon, and maybe see if I can't get that program up and running correctly on my computer at home.

In the meantime, a little comedy for you all.

Check out where the guy in the second row is looking.

One word: Busted.

Bloodthirsty Butchers

2006-11-19T21:36:00.000+09:00

I headed up to Sapporo this weekend.

The reason? Well, while it would have been fun to see the Nippon Ham Fighters victory parade, that wasn't my reason for heading that way.

Today was a day to ROCK.

I took off from Muroran and drove up to Tomakomai. On the way there, I stopped in Kojohama to buy a birthday present for a friend. Yep, I gave her crabs again this year. The cool thing about the store I went to is that the father of one of my students runs it. This guy is an awesome salesman. I just went to see what was there, and two minutes later I was filling out the shipping label for a king crab.

I'm still not quite sure how that happened.

We talked a bit, and after telling him I worked at Starfish High, he said, "Shipping's on me. You're my daughter's teacher, after all."

Thanks!

I also stopped by another store and picked up some salmon roe for some friends back in Izumo before continuing on my way.

In Tomakomai, I parked my car and caught a train to Sapporo. Once there, I checked in to my hotel, went and did some Christmas shopping for my family, met a friend and had some ramen, and then headed over to Bessie Hall.

Tonight's featured acts?

I was there to see the bloodthirsty butchers.

I caught a butchers show in Hiroshima last year about a month before I left Shimane. I'd heard good things about them, but after Number Girl's guitarist Hisako Tabuchi joined them after Number Girl broke up, I knew I had to see them.

Tabuchi is a guitar goddess. She's small, but the sounds she can make come out of an electric guitar...Gawd Awlmaighty!

So I saw them play live, and I was annihilated (in a good way). Listening to them play live is not so much actually listening to music as it is being showered in music, or crashing into a wall of sound. The vocals are just one part of the whole cacophony. Absolutely brilliant stuff.

So when I found out they would be playing right in my own backyard (so to speak), I bought a ticket and waited in sweet antici....

...

...

...

"SAY IT!"

...pation.

And they delivered again. Absolutely fantastic stuff.

Plus, Tabuchi-san is married to the vocalist, Yoshimura-san, and their kid was at the show. It was funny, because just as they were getting ready to play, I saw Tabuchi-san smiling. I looked to where she was looking, and saw her daughter giggle and wave at Mom.

That was a sweet sight to see.

Of the other bands there that night, I was most impressed by High Voltage. Loud, fast, passionate rock. Cool stuff. The first band of the night, Discharging Man, was rather bland. Their songs all sounded the same. It was funny to see how the crowd changed between sets, especially between High Voltage and Slang's set.

All of the sudden I was surrounded by guys in hooded sweatshirts and baseball caps who looked like they were there more to fight than watch a rock show. I felt, shall we say, slightly uncomfortable, perhaps even a bit in danger. Once Slang started playing, I knew why.

Chaos. Absolute, unbridled chaos.

But their guitarist was cool.

The butchers set was about an hour long and was as amazing as the last time I had seen them. I was lucky enough to get a set list, and after waiting around a bit after the show...

...I got everyone's autograph!

It was cool, because I also got to talk to Tabuchi-san, who I hadn't talked to since the last Number Girl show I saw back in 2002, right before they broke up. Tabuchi-san is very cool.

I went out drinking after the show, then headed back to my hotel.

Today, before heading back to Muroran, I went and saw Children of Men.

Wow. Good film. The scary thing is how believable the story is. It will leave you thinking for quite a while. Oh, and Clive Owen is The Man. That's all there is to it.

A little more Christmas shopping, then back on the train to Tomakomai, back in the car, and after a quick stop at a hot spring, I cruised on home.

Not a bad weekend.

bloodthirsty butchers rock my world.

New updated posts:
9/10/2006: Mashike - The Town of Increasing Hair
9/3/2006: Roamin' The Countryside
7/29/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 7: Sea World
7/28/2006: The San Diego Chronicles - Day 6: Cabrillo

Bonjour Chevrolet?

2006-11-16T23:50:00.000+09:00

...or something to that effect.

There's some fancy-schmancy French wine that hit the markets yesterday, and apparently it's a really big deal. Not being much of a wine drinker myself, I wasn't particularly concerned with it either way.

But earlier this week, I got an e-mail from the guy that runs Pivo Bar, a bar downtown with beers from all around the world. (I love this place because I can get Sam Adams there.)

It said, "Dasutin-san, maido-sama desu. 11 Gatsu 16 nichi Mokuyoubi, PM 9:00 ~
Bojore Nuubo (wain) o nomitai to omoimasu. Ohitorisama 3500en desu. Yokattara kitekudasai ne!(^^)!"

Loosely translated: "Dustin, we're drinking wine on 11/16 starting at 9PM. 3500 yen per person. Come if you can!"

The wine was the one that they always make a fuss about over here, and since I'd never tried it, and it sounded like fun, I figured why the heck not?

So I caught a ride downtown from a friend and went to the bar.

All told, it was a fun night of lots of drinking and chatting. And when it was all over, I caught a taxi home and hit the sack.

Yeah, I actually do know that it's called "Beaujolais Nouveau". I'm not dumb. I'm an American.

Here's a shot of me with a couple of the folks at the party. Let's just say that there was much of the vino consumed.

Also, I've updated some old stuff, so if you want to go and take a look at some posts that I should have written a while ago, here they are:

10/4/2006: The Field Trip
9/1/2006: Sixteen Men On A Dead Man's Chest
8/27/2006: A Bad Case of the Blahs
8/22/2006: Signs Of Life

As I update more stuff, I will let you know. Now that I've finally got pictures from a lot of the trips I did, there will be some fun stuff coming up in the near future.

Hell (Version: Pink)

2006-11-14T18:12:00.000+09:00

A friend of mine from my Shimane days came into town last weekend with a friend of his.

It'd been a couple of years since we'd last hung out, so I was pretty excited for him to get up here.

He is a great guy, but has absolutely one of the filthiest mouths I've ever heard. Absolutely foul.

Anyway, we checked out the Ainu Museum in Shiraoi and drove through the Noboribetsu Hot Springs area on Saturday, and then swung by Rantaro for some yakitori goodness.

Sunday, I got up early to help out with STEP Test interviews at Pure Water Hill High, and then cruised back to get them up and head out again.

We headed over to Date for some ramen at Tsuru-tsuru-tei, checked out Showa Shinzan and Mt. Usu, and walked around one of the craters formed when Mt. Usu went up in 2000.

Then we hit the hot springs at Poromoi before heading back home.

After dinner, I decided to take them downtown for a few drinks on their last night in Muroran.

So we hoofed it on down there and went to DJ Jam Bar, a local hangout and the one place young people might show up on a Sunday night.

No one did, but we spent four hours there drinking and singing karaoke.

Then it was back home.

It had snowed that day, so my friend and his friend, in their drunken revelry, started throwing snow at each other.

I tried my best to get them to stop. After all, I have neighbors.

Anyway, we headed up to my room, and as I opened the door, I realized that my friend had picked up...

A FIRE EXTINGUISHER.

And he'd pulled the pin.

I looked at him and tried to get him to stop, but four hours of all-you-can-drink had turned his brain to Yorkshire pudding.

And in the next second, everything disappeared into a cloud of pink smoke.

The dirty S.O.B. set the damn thing off.

We all start choking up.

My eyes, my nose, my throat...everything hurt.

According to my friend, he just expected it to fire off a short burst of foam.

Well, whatever the expectation was, that's not what happened, is it?

IT'S NOT A DAMN TOY!!!!

I got them to bed, then ran to Ippuku-tei to ask the master there for some advice.

After heading home for three hours of fitful sleep, I woke up, called the vice-principal and explained the situation, and then got those two up to help me start cleaning.

First, the hallway, which was coated in the pink crap.

Then my room.

No school for me, just cleaning.

ALL.

DAY.

LONG.

And that pink crap is still all over the place.

I'm calling in a cleaning company.

The Victors!

2006-10-26T23:17:00.000+09:00

The local team did it!

They're national champions!

They've won the Series!

Unfortunately, this post is not about the Seattle Mariners. (sigh)

The Nippon Ham Fighters baseball team, in their third year in Hokkaido, have just won the Japan Series.

They were originally based in the bustling metropolis of Tokyo, where, until they moved up here, six of the twelve Japan League teams were based.

In an impressive move of sharing the wealth, Nippon Ham moved their team up here. (Well, that and the fact that since most people in the Tokyo area flock to the Yomiuri Giants (ugh) games and none others, they couldn't pack in the fans.)

And now they're the champs.

Not that I've been a huge fan, or that I've even been to see a game of theirs, but I figured that on the night they have a chance to claim the title, I should watch the game.

I didn't want to watch it by myself, so I cruised over to Rantaro and watched it with the owners there. The three of us, and nobody else, since everyone else in Muroran had either cruised on up for the game itself or was staying at home and watching the game. Not that Muroran is a bustling cultural center or anything, but there was a serious LACK of people about.

So I watched the game, ate some food, drank some beer, and watched the Fighters win.

(Oh yeah, they're just "The Fighters". When I first heard their name, I thought it was completely ridiculous to call them "Ham Fighters" too. My mistake. The company that owns the team and uses them as an advertising tool is called "Nippon Ham". Oops.)

Congratulations, Fighters. Congratulations, Hokkaido.

Rakugo Part 1

2006-10-25T23:16:00.000+09:00

I headed over to Noboribetsu tonight to catch a performance of rakugo by a couple of the more famous rakugo performers in Japan, Sanyutei Rakutaro and Sanyutei Kouraku.

What is rakugo? And who are these two "famous" dudes? Let me explain.

I don't really understand that much about rakugo, as I've only seen it performed live one other time, in Matsue a few years ago. So clicking on the link above might provide you with better information than I can offer. But basically, as I understand it, rakugo is where a person tells an audience a story, acting out different parts and different actions using a combination of subtle movements and tools such as the fan they carry, all while kneeling on a cushion.

It's kind of one of those things you have to see to understand.

There's a program on TV Sunday evenings at 5:30 called "Shoten". It features seven famous rakugo performers who are given topics to make jokes or comments about. Usually they go for laughs, but sometimes they go for more pointed comments. Each performer has a certain style, and the interaction between them is quite entertaining.

Rakutaro and Kouraku are two of the performers on the show. I noticed a billboard advertising this performance on my way out to Tomakomai one night, and since Rakutaro is my favorite cast member of "Shoten", I knew I had to see this.

I got my ticket, wrote the day in on my schedule, and once work was finished today, I headed on over to the Community Center in Noboribetsu (after checking with a couple students about the location).

I got in, got a good seat, and waited for the show to begin.

It started off with Sanyutei Kousaku, a rakugoperformer who is studying under Kouraku. Not bad, a few good laughs, and a nice warm-up for...

RAKUTARO (picture right)! Very funny stuff.

Then a juggler by the name of Lemon, followed by Kouraku (picture left).

I've never been a huge fan of him, but he really impressed me this evening. He was funny, engaging, and all-around entertaining. I think Kouraku has a new fan.

After the show was over, the rush to leave the parking lot was nuts, so I was hanging out, and I happened to see the performers getting on their bus to head to wherever they were heading. I waved goodbye, and they waved back.

I smiled all the way home.

Freakin' fanboy.

Snakes On A Bl...Oh Wait, That One's Taken

2006-10-25T02:39:00.000+09:00

So I went out to Tomakomai this evening to watch "Snakes On A Plane".

I saw a bunch of ads for this film while I was in San Diego. Plus, I had been following the whole insane Internet phenomenon this movie had become before anyone had even seen it.

Samuel L. Jackson.
The movie title itself.
The opportunity to see Mr. Jackson use the "MF" term he uses so well.
The sheer B-movie mess it was sure to be.

Why wouldn't I want to see it?

BUT...

My folks were in town the night it was opening in theaters, and I was leaving to head back here the next day. I figured I'd be able to catch it on video at some point.

That is until one day I was out at the theater in Tomakomai and noticed a poster advertising the flick here.

NO.

WAY.

It started playing on Saturday, and I was determined to see it in the theater. So I called up my buddy Miller, who has a similarly warped sense of humor as I do, and we made plans to head out and see it.

Which we did.

First impression? I'm damn glad I didn't watch it before I got on a plane myself. I'd have been an absolute mess all the way back to Japan.

DAMN. The movie started off cheesy, and I was loving it. Just the kind of film I was looking for.

Then came the snakes.

DAMN. They featured just about every single poisonous snake you could think of. And they were, shall we say, efficient.

It really ended up creeping me out.

Of course there were ridiculous parts to the plot, but when the original concept is "Snakes On A Plane", you've pretty much suspended all your disbelief already.

Good times. Good times indeed.

Pumpkins and Punk

2006-10-23T13:36:00.000+09:00

Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Jack o'lanterns!

More of 'em!

Always use your powers not for good but for AWESOME!!

Anyone up for hitting an onsen?

Ummm...treat?

You can't prove dat I'm connected to doze guys in any way.

Silhouette action.

Catching Up...Again

2006-10-22T23:00:00.000+09:00

Yeah...so I've been slacking off quite a bit still.

Here's a recap of what's been going on.

October 7th through the 9th was a three-day weekend here, but I had to do work stuff most of the weekend.

Saturday Jack and I helped judge a junior high school English recitation contest in Shiraoi. It's impressive to see the students' expressive abilities develop. Fun stuff, but lousy weather. Although the lousy weather made for some awesome wave activity along the coast. A log even washed up over the protective barrier and onto the highway, blocking traffic until a cleaning crew could get it off the road.

Sunday. Jack and I headed out to a quail farm in the hills north of Muroran with some students from the Starfish High Music Club to perform some songs as part of the UNESCO World Music Day event planned out there.

Yeah. It didn't make much sense to me either. But we were asked to play, so we went.

The first year girls played Kaera Kimura's "Rirura Riruha".

Jack, SH's guitar god, and I did our cover of Mr. Big's "To Be With You".

And then, to close out the show, we added a drummer, a violinist, and a keyboardist, lost the guitar, and tried our hand at Gnarls.

Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy".

I saw the video out at Jack's place a few days later, and...we sounded gooooooooood. I guess it helps to have professionals working the mixer and setting up the amps.

So that was it. Three songs. That's all we had. I told everyone "Thank you." But then, something weird happened.

"Encore."

"Encore!"

"ENCORE! ENCORE! ENCORE!"

Ummmm...

"Sorry folks, we only have the three songs. We certainly didn't expect this. Thank you, but we don't have anything else."

"Do Mr. Big again!"

I looked at Jack and GG. We all shrugged. "Okay, Mr. Big it is."

And we played it one more time.

Weird.

Afterwards, we took part in an after-event party, and then I headed out to Marukoma Hot Springs near Lake Shikotsu to meet up with some friends from around the country who had come up to Hokkaido to meet and talk about Ichinomiya shrine stuff.

A conference at a hot spring.

The outdoor bath there kicks ass, because it's depth changes with the depth of the lake. You stand and soak in that pool.

Monday. There was actually a school event planned this day, but I bailed because I refuse to give up ALL THREE DAYS of a three-day weekend for work-related stuff.

So my friends and I went up to Sapporo, had some food, and then I saw everyone off and headed home.

The following days (10/10-10/15) were taken up with preparations for our Open School on the 15th. I carved pumpkins with students again. Good times.

The Open School went off without a hitch, and was a lot easier to deal with this year because I had half a clue about what I was doing. Unlike last year.

I sang again this year, too. Jet, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl". The crowd ate it up. I even got compliments from some of the teachers.

10/16, Monday, was a day off, so I headed out to Mukawa to eat some shishamo sushi. The original plan was to make it a Debuwagon Repeat of last year, but Eisaku had to bail at the last minute. So I drove out there by myself.

The sushi was good, but it was a little sad, eating all by myself.

From there, I headed out to Biratori to check out some Ainu museums. There are two museums in the same area, so I spent the afternoon looking at the exhibits and trying to pick up some new information. I've come to the conclusion that one reason I have ended up here in Hokkaido is so that I can learn about the Ainu culture, so I want to take every opportunity I can to find out new information.

I caught "16 Blocks" that evening in Tomakomai. Decent flick with good action, but a too-tidy ending. Mos Def does an excellent job.

The next few days were preparatory lead-up to the second Open School on the 21st. More pumpkins were carved, and hopefully I can post some of those pictures soon. The second Open School also went off without any problems. I sang again, and this time we were even better than the first Open School.

That night, we had a welcome party for a new secretary. It was fun, but I split off before everyone went to the third party to go drink at a cool little bar called "Pivo", which according to Jack, is Polish for "beer". Trez appropos. There are beers there from all around the world. Good beers.

Today, I cruised out to the Niseko area with a fellow teacher (not Eisaku) to get a burger (which was good) and hit a hot spring (which was better). I'm still warm now. The big shock of the day was that it snowed.

Yep. Snow.

Fall is officially over.

And there you have it. All caught up.

Once Around The Dial

2006-10-05T18:56:00.000+09:00

Well, it's been exactly a year since I started this blog.

I've been slacking off lately updating this thing as of late.

I was too busy and didn't have enough Internet access in the US to update it while I was there (July 13 - August 20).

I didn't particularly feel like doing anything with it for a while after I got back. I didn't particularly feel like doing much of anything for quite a while after I got back. (August 20 - sometime in mid-September).

Now I'm trying to update the stuff I should have put in quite a while ago, and falling behind doing it.

I've also been taking trips every weekend, to take advantage of my free time that will be nonexistent once October hits full swing. My weekends from here until the end of October are shot. School functions every single weekend.

Also, once it rolls into November, I won't be able to get out and about. I remember last winter, and I have no desire to attempt driving on snowy Hokkaido roads with insane Hokkaido drivers.

So, I'll update old stuff when I can and try and keep pace with the new stuff as it comes along.

Welcome to The Muroran Chronicles, Year 2.

The Field Trip

2006-10-04T18:45:00.000+09:00

Well, it's that time of year again!

Time for all of the students to get outside and walk a while.

It's Field Trip time.

Now, back in the States, when we had a field trip, everybody loaded on to one of those yellow school buses and headed off to see "Dinosaurs!" at the Benton County Fairgrounds...or something like that.

Not here. Here? You walk. And it's not just one class. It's the WHOLE SCHOOL.

My partner in crime here, Jack, and I were put in charge of planning this year's field trip.

I can do the paperwork. Jack knows good places to go.

So we started tossing out ideas. One by one, they were rejected.

"We can't ask students to take the train that far."
"That's too steep of a course."
"There's not enough space for all the students."

We were running out of options.

A hike out to the aquarium?

"Too far, and it wouldn't be interesting for the students."

We toss out our last, best idea: a hike around the cliffs near the bay.

It was a good course, with spaces with trees and some incredible views of the sea, plus lots of space for students to eat and goof off when we took our lunch break.

When we presented the idea at a staff meeting, the guy who was running it had pretty much already decided that he was against it, evidenced by his asking everyone after Jack and I made our presentation, "So does anyone have anything they'd like to add? Concerns about the length of the course, perhaps?"

Hey. Pal. In some circles, they call that "leading the witness".

Needless to say, we were shot down once again.

So what do we do?

Well, I got frustrated and told my boss that I didn't have any more ideas and I couldn't come up with anything else. I'm just not familiar enough with the area and with what everyone is looking for in a freaking field trip.

He turns around and lectures me about that kind of attitude causing problems in the workplace and making everything go to hell.

(There was a bit of miscommunication in our discussion as well, and we both got pretty ticked off at each other. Once we figured out that most of the trouble was with this misunderstanding, we sheepishly apologized to each other and everything was okay.)

Things worked out in the end. We planned a short hike from Muroran Station out to Mt. Sokuryo, and a stop at a nearby park for lunch and goof-off time.

The hike went a lot quicker than anyone expected, so we were able to finish up early and get everybody back to Muroran Station to catch trains or buses back home.

Good times, all told.

I waited until the last students had caught their trains, then cruised on home and had a nap for a while.

I mean, after all, driving the pace car for a hike up a mountain can be really stressful. Heh heh.

Here's a shot of Jack and I on one of the viewing towers on the top of Mt. Sokuryo.

Love that view. It's even better at night.

The Ten Thousand Kilo Mark

2006-09-19T22:25:00.000+09:00

I bought my car back in March, and today, on my way out to Tomakomai to meet up with Minami (the girl from the Japaharinet show), my car hit the 10000 kilometer mark.

Even after being in the States for an entire month, I'm still on my 20,000 kilometers a year pace.

Living in Hokkaido makes that easy.

I met Minami at Tomakomai Station, and then we drove out to a restaurant that serves kiritanpo stew, a delicacy from Akita Prefecture. Why is there a restaurant in Tomakomai serving Akita delicacies?

Your guess is as good as mine.

But it was dang good.

After dinner, I drove Minami to Tomakomai Port so she could catch her ferry down to Hachinohe and go and see Japaharinet's show in Morioka the following day.

Fan dedication is a beautiful thing.

And then I drove home.

Mashike - The Town Of Increasing Hair

2006-09-10T23:12:00.000+09:00

So a couple of weeks ago, I got a phone call from fellow train geek Scott about a train trip he had planned.

"Dustin, there's a steam locomotive out on the Rumoi Line that will be making its last run of the year. Mo and I are thinking of going. You want to come along?"

Hmm...let me check my schedule...no hot dates, so...

"I'm there!"

After Scott did some checking on tickets, he found out that it was all sold out for that weekend, but he still thought going up and snapping some photos would be fun.

Ahh, what the hell, I thought. I'll drive.

So Friday night after work, we took off for Takikawa. Scott has a friend there who agreed to let us crash at his place. Good deal.

We took the low roads the whole way. I didn't want to pay the highway tolls, plus taking the highway would make the trip a bit longer (distance-wise, if not time-wise). We were making pretty good time, and although it was kind of late, I wanted to wait until we got to Takikawa before we ate.

My passengers had other ideas.

"We're hungry."

"Ummm, so?"

"So let's stop and eat something."

One problem. I have no idea where there is a place to eat around here. But, as is usually the case with me and good food (scroll down until you find the food pictures), luck was on my side.

We were in a town called Bibai at the time, and we had just stopped at a light when a sign caught my attention. I turned around to the passengers and said...

"Do you trust me?"

They said yes, so I turned off the main road and drove around until I found...

Bibai Yatai Village. Yatais are outdoor food stands, and this place was packed with them. We went in and were met by Watanabe-san, the guy in charge of the area. He took us to a stand and got us hooked up with lots of good eatins, some of which he even threw in for free. Nice guy. I had such a good time that I bought a shirt, and then he threw in a couple more for Scott and Mo. Absolutely cool place. I hope I can get back out there again sometime.

Then it was off to Takikawa and over to Scott's friend's place to spend the night. He wasn't there, but we crashed there anyway.

Next morning, we headed over to Takikawa Station and caught the train to Fukagawa Station, where we would transfer over to a train on the Rumoi Line. People were lined up on the opposite platform with cameras and what-not, plus there were a whole lot of train geeks getting onto the train we were on.

Apparently, this weekend was going to be the last time a steam locomotive ran on the Rumoi Line.

Mo and I got on the train, while Scott went off snapping photos.

Here's one he snapped of us.

After a bit of waiting, we were off.

This is a REALLY great shot that Scott took.

I was planning on riding ahead to Mashike, but Scott and Mo wanted to get out at Ebishima Station to get some photos of the locomotive as it came up the line. We were surprised to see most everyone getting off the train, until we realized that it was the stop they wanted and not the stop we thought it was.

Rabid train fans disembark in packs on their way to take photos galore.

Here's a shot Scott took of the SL coming up the line. The man is quite good.

So I stayed on the train and enjoyed the ride into Rumoi. When we got there, I figured that a train on in to Mashike would be waiting at the station. Nope. So I head out into the lobby to figure out when the next train out there leaves. I couldn't figure out the dang schedule, so I asked one of the station workers.

"The next train out is the SL Suzuran. You can catch it in an hour and a half."

Huh? I thought it was sold out.

"From Rumoi to Mashike, anyone can ride it. You don't need to pay for a reserved seat. Just get on."

Heh. I get to brag to Scott and Mo now.

So I walked around town a bit, snapping some photos and taking in the elegance that is Rumoi (snicker). Then I headed back to the station and got set up with a decent spot to get a photo of the train as it pulled in.

Which is what I did. My cell phone takes some pretty good photos.

Then I got on the train and rode out to Mashike. It was crowded, but interesting, and I picked up a few souvenirs while I was there. Looking out the train window, you could see train chasers following along in their cars and snapping photos or videotaping. That kinda thing is dangerous. There was a huge crowd waving at us from an overpass just before we pulled into Mashike Station, too.

Mashike Station.

A quick note about the town of Mashike. The name originally comes from an Ainu word meaning "The Place of Many Seagulls", but when the name was given kanji characters to represent the sounds, they used the character masu, meaning "to increase", and ke, meaning "hair". So if you look at the kanji characters, Mashike means "to increase hair". Needless to say, it's a popular town for folks with a little less on top than they'd like.

There were some tents set up in the station parking lot, and a lot of the passengers from the train had gathered in that area. I went over to see what the commotion was about.

Hey, free shrimp! Mashike is famous for amaebi ("pink shrimp" or "northern shrimp"), and there was a plate full of fresh amaebi for the tasting. I snagged a couple, peeled them, dipped them in soy sauce and ate 'em.

Oh my.

Fresh stuff is the best.

Kunimare, the local sake brewery, was giving out free drinks as well. So life was very good, and I hadn't even left the station yet.

I had some time to kill before Scott and Mo showed up, so I went walking around town. I stopped by Kunimare and sampled their wares, so I managed to be fairly well lit up by the time Scott and Mo arrived. No big deal, I figured. We WERE taking the train, after all.

After they got into town, we went inside the station to have some soba noodles.

Gotta love soba.

After lunch, I took Scott and Mo over to the Kunimare brewery, bragging about my trip on the SL. A little envy was there, but I suggested dropping them off in Rumoi the next day and letting them catch the train on in to Mashike the next day.

Here's the brewery. It's the northernmost sake brewery in Japan.

I bought some gifts for some friends in Izumo and sent them off, and then Scott and I tried on the official Kunimare work uniform.

I look like I could do this job.

We toured the facilities and learned a bit about sake brewing in the process. Afterwards, we headed over to Shokanbetsu River, where we had been told that a lot of salmon were swimming upstream.

We had been told correctly. Damn.

After a bit more cruising around town and seeing the sights (the hundred-year-old elementary school, Mashike Itsukushima Shrine, etc.) we headed back to the station, where I made a slight request to the Gods of Increasing Hair.

"Gimme back my hair. Gimme back my hair. Pleeeeeeease?"

We caught an evening train back up the line and saw a gorgeous sunset on the way up the coast. Scott snapped this photo of me as I watched the nighttime scenery go by.

The man's got talent, that's for sure.

We got back into Takikawa and sampled the local cuisine, a lamb meat on rice meal known as "Genghis Khan-don". Why Genghis Khan? I fear this is a mystery that may never be solved.

Back to Scott's friends place, where a roaring party was going on in the lot in front of the apartment. Somebody's going-away party or something. I didn't really care for it, so I headed inside. After a while Scott's friend showed up. Nice guy. Really cool of hime to let us crash at his place.

The next day, we headed out in the Kiddmobile and snapped lots of photos along the way, especially of some of the old station buildings along the line. At one station, we got this photo:

The sign says "No Bicycle Parking Here". Heh.

I dropped Scott and Mo off in Rumoi and headed on to Mashike, where I sampled some more of the shrimp and sake from the day before, mostly because the people running the stands remembered me and called me over.

Yum.

After the train came in, I went and sat in the engineer's seat while Scott got this shot.

I'm creating an image of Johnny Cash in my mind right here.

Back into Rumoi for some ramen, which was excellent, and then off into the hills.

And when I say into the hills, I mean "into the hills". As in, "will we be able to get back out of these hills, or will we end up in the Japanese version of 'Deliverance'?"

"I'm gonna make you squeal like a buta. Boo-hee, boo-hee!"

(shudders)

Fortunately, no inbred Japanese hillbillies found us. Train fanatics with lots of cameras found us, though. The sight of everyone set up on the hill overlooking the tracks was kinda creepy.

We waited. I set up in one area, while Scott set up in another.

Then we heard it. The whistle, echoing up the valley.

That's quite the sound. I'd never heard that before. It felt like I'd stepped back in time a century or so.

Then there's the smoke cloud. You can see it before you see the train. It's the sign saying, "Here I come. Get ready."

Then you could see it, off in the distance.

Not my camera, but I took this photo.

Then the train turned off to the left and came around in a big curve, right near where we were.

The clicks of dozens of different shutters. The puffing of the smoke. The wheels on the track.

Another shot I took. Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Then the train was gone, and everyone was packing up their stuff. We headed back down to my car, and as we did, the clouds that had been threatening to dump on us finally did. We drove back on the same route we came in on, stopping in Mikasa for some damn fine ice cream, and then headed on home.

It was an excellent experience, one I'm glad I had the chance to take part it.

Thanks, Scott.

Roamin' The Countryside

2006-09-03T21:43:00.000+09:00

Today I decided to get off my still-jet-lagged butt and get out and see something before I turned into a pile of mush.

So I hopped in my car and headed west along the coast, all the way over to Oshamanbe. On my way into the center of town, I passed through Asahihama, a place where I had stopped and taken some photos last year.

There was a train station in Asahihama, but JR Hokkaido closed it down last fall because of the lack of riders. I was aware of said closure.

But imagine my shock when what had last year looked like this...

...had now become this.

Same thing here. Last year? This.

This year? This.

It was kind of sad to see.

But the waves in Eruption Bay were very beautiful to see, and you could see Toyoura, Date, and Muroran off in the distance.

I headed into town to grab some lunch. Oshamanbe is famous for its crabs, and there is a nationally famous boxed lunch (ekiben) with crab meat and rice you can get at the station there. I was hungry, so I stopped in and picked one up.

I'm not really sure why it's nationally famous. It was a bit bland, really. I like Tottori Station's crab sushi boxed lunch better. The best thing about it, besides the fact that it tastes pretty damn good, is that the box is shaped like a crab!

Moving on...

I debated heading south toward Hakodate, but it was already in the afternoon, so I decided to head north instead. I followed Rt. 5 and snapped some photos of old run-down trains stations along the way...

...like Warabitai Station. Taking photos out in the middle of nowhere can be a bit of an adventure, especially if you leave your car running. These things that look like a cross between horseflies and wasps tend to surround your car. I never saw the things in Shimane, but as you head further north in Japan, they tend to swarm around cars (when the engine is left running). With a little careful timing and a lot of luck, you can get back in your car without letting one in. Ugh, those things are nasty. (shudders)

A recommendation from my partner-in-crime, Jack, sent me off toward a hot spring in Niseko. After a bit of adventure (see also: My sorry ass got lost.) which had me going over a small mountain pass into the next town over, I finally found it.

Carp River Hot Springs.

It has the feeling of an old-style Japanese inn. The bath looks run-down, but the water is excellent. The open-air bath is absolutely fantastic. There's a waterfall you can look at as you bathe, which led to the bath being called The Waterfall-Gazing Bath. (Check out some pictures here.)

One weird thing about this place, though; there's a door into the hillside next to the parking lot.

Creepy stuff.

After the bath, I got back on the road. After a little bit of driving, I saw this.

Mt. Yotei. Man, that's a pretty mountain.

I cruised through Jack's old stomping grounds of Kyogoku Town and grabbed a drink of water at Fukidashi Park before heading home. Jack always talks about how great the water there is, but now I finally understand what he was talking about. The water is great, plus it's just shooting out of the hillside. This is not some little dribbling stream; this is a waterfall of pure, fresh water.

And then I drove home. Here's hoping this trip will help me get back into the swing of things.

Sixteen Men On A Dead Man's Chest...

2006-09-01T21:23:00.000+09:00

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Or two, as in this case.

There's a distillery down in Okinawa that makes rum.

One of the major crops grown in Okinawa is sugar cane, and although awamori is the more well-known booze to come out of Okinawa, sugar cane is really all you need to make rum.

I found out about this company when I read an in-flight magazine, and decided to order some rum from them.

The bottles came today. Yay!

The red one is rum made from the normal distilling process, which means that it uses sugar processed from the cane. The green one is rum made through a much rarer process, namely that the cane is squeezed to get liquid sugar out, and that liquid is used to make rum.

I think the green bottle's rum tastes a little better, but they both make good rum-and-cokes.

Shiver me timbers and make 'em walk the plank.

Yar.

Break Out The Fire and Brimstone, It's Holy Roller Time!

2006-08-29T09:08:00.000+09:00

Sometimes I worry about the USA.

Politicians like this will lead our country to hell in a handbasket.

Although I do agree with her on one thing. The concept of separation of church and state IS a lie.

Let me clarify.

A leader who manipulates the populace with religiously-loaded terms like "evil" to gain backing for a war that nobody really wants? Where's your separation of church and state?

Politicians moving to create a Constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, with the only basis for it being some vague Judeo-Christian reference to homosexuality being "bad" in Leviticus or Deuteronomy or one of those Old Testament books? Where's your separation of church and state? (I wonder if any of these lawmakers bothered to read the line in the New Testament that says "Love thy neighbor". Ya know, some guy going by the name of Jesus said that.)

People like Representative Harris getting in to politics and rising to a level where she can wield clout over national lawmaking, and come out and make ass-eyed statements like this? I ask you again, where is your separation of church and state?

A Bad Case Of The Blahs

2006-08-27T22:46:00.000+09:00

I've been back in Japan for about a week.

My jet lag is not getting any better.

I have neither the desire nor the motivation to get out and do anything.

This weekend has been absolutely gorgeous, and I'm just sitting around the house, not really doing anything.

Work? Meh.

After work? Meh.

Weekends? Meh.

I feel like my soul is still trying to catch up with my body, and it's somewhere over the Pacific now.

I hope I get over these blahs soon.

Signs of Life

2006-08-22T17:39:00.000+09:00

Two days back in Japan.

Went to work yesterday. Not that I needed to, mind you. I have three days off before I have to be back to work. I was just too tired to head out on a trip anywhere, and I needed to return a couple things anyway.

But today?

Since it's my last day off, I decided to get out and do...something.

Wouldn't ya know it. The weather was crap.

Ah well.

I drove out into the hills in Noboribetsu, then drove over Orofure Pass, which is supposed to be beautiful on a clear day.

I saw the insides of rainclouds.

Then it was down into Otaki, where I had a kinoko-don (translation: tempura mushrooms on rice) for lunch. Apparently, you can pick all kinds of mushrooms in the mountains in Otaki.

I also saw the one million dollar rest area there.

Quite a few years back, when the Japanese economy was booming, the government gave the yen equivalent of one million dollars to every city, town, and village in the country. I've heard of some places that put that money to good use, but most places just built some hideous new building or built a tunnel...or something.

Public works projects. Gotta love 'em!

Anyway, Otaki had put their money into making a one million dollar rest area. That's how they advertise it on the sign out front.

It is sparkling clean inside, and there's a baby grand piano in the foyer that plays classical music automatically.

Impressive? Yes. Necessary? Hmmm....

After the one million dollar potty break, I hit the road again. I considered turning off to the west and checking out Kutchan, but I decided against it, opting instead to travel out to Lake Shikotsu and hit a hot spring there.

Marukoma Hot Springs.

This was a very cool place to visit. The baths were all great, but the best one was the outdoor bath. The water level changes with the level of the lake, and since it had been raining recently, the water came up to my chest. A stand-up outdoor bath? Cooool.

Then it was back home for me. Gotta get back into work mode for tomorrow.

I Want To Be A Superhero

2006-08-11T09:26:00.000+09:00

So I designed a superhero...

I really hope "Who Wants To Be A Superhero?" gets released on DVD soon.

I love this show.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 18: TJ

2006-08-09T23:13:00.000+09:00

Czar and I went to Tijuana.

Nothing happened.

No really.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 13: Comics, Guitars, and Cajun Food

2006-08-04T23:06:00.000+09:00

Today we had a free afternoon, so I headed out with three of my students to show them around San Diego.

First we caught a bus out toward Balboa Avenue and The Comic Shop. A couple of my students are BIG comic fans, and I thought it might be fun for them to see an American comic book store.

It was. They were practically drooling over the figures and English-translated manga.

Then we caught a bus straight downtown, because one of the other students wanted to take a look at guitars, and I'd seen a guitar shop downtown while I'd been slumming around there a few days before.

We got off the bus and were waiting at the crosswalk when...

BAM!

An explosion, followed by something wet hitting my foot.

WTF?

It took a few minutes for it to sink in, but some psychopathic butthead (and other choice words) had decided to get pissed off about something and throw a glass bottle into the road. Which had explosively shattered and sent pieces of glass and god-knows-what-kind-of liquid onto my foot.

Once I actually figured out what was going on, I was livid.

My students were freaked out by the whole thing.

We headed over to the fountain in front of Horton Plaza so I could clean off my feet. One of the students had actually gotten cut by the glass, but she said she was okay.

(fill in appropriate obscenities directed toward bottle thrower here)

We walked over to the guitar and checked out the stuff on display, and then wandered around the Gaslight District for a while. A hat shop, the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, a Hawaiian souvenir shop, etc etc.

Then we headed back to Old Town, and the students headed home, while I headed out to eat some dinner.

At New Orleans Creole Cafe.

Jambalaya and beer straight outta Louisiana. Abita Beer.

Damn, Cajun food is good.

Plus, you get Mardi Gras beads when you pay. I wonder if those work outside of New Orleans and outside of Mardi Gras.

"Hey! Show me your (edited for content)!"

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 12: Coronado

2006-08-03T23:33:00.000+09:00

Today, Denise took us out to Coronado.

But, before I talk about that, I have to say something.

THE SUV TREND HAS GONE WAY TOO FAR.

While the students were in class today, I walked over to a restaurant near the International House to get some breakfast. Usually I have a bowl of cereal (and watch some "Angel" on TV) before I catch my bus, but today I felt like trying to get some biscuits and gravy, or chicken-fried steak, or an omelet...some kind of greasy spoon 'merican breakfast that I can't get back in Japan.

So as I was being shown to my table, I got stuck behind a family who had small children in...

Is THAT a stroller?

Looked like some sort of new munchkin-warfare tool.

A baby stroller, by JEEP.

Ladies and gentlemen, we have just left acceptable reality. Please fasten your saftey belts and return your seats and trays to their upright positions. This is gonna be a bumpy ride.

Rant over.

So Denise took us out to Coronado. We took the ferry across the bay. Nice little ride. Got to see the USS Midway from the bay, which was nice (even though it was the second time we had done it). We walked to the nearest bus stop and caught the bus to...

...the beach (with Point Loma off in the distance)! Which was right next to...

...the Hotel del Coronado, aka "The Del".

This hotel has been used in several films, probably the most famous of which is "Some Like It Hot". (Which, by the way, is a great film, and the last line..."Well, nobody's perfect." Classic.)

We just hung out there for a while, goofing around on the beach and taking a look around the Del. The sand on the beach was really fine, and it felt good to walk around barefoot in it.

We caught the bus back, and then the students all took off for home. I walked on over to Fred's Mexican Cafe to join up with Kadie, a teacher at the International House, and her boyfriend Ryan. Kadie had invited me to come along so we could talk about life in Hokkaido, as Ryan and her were interested in possibly coming over here to teach for a while. So we talked over margaritas. Mmmm, tequila.

I had to book it back on over to the International House after a bit, because I'd been invited to come out to a Japanese restaurant with some of the IH staff. A chaperone for a group of Russian students was leaving soon, and she wanted to eat some Japanese food before she left. I came along for the ride.

Not bad stuff, really. Expensive, but tasty, and the shabu-shabu gives me bragging rights with my students. Mwa ha ha.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 11: Gumbo and Gambit

2006-08-02T23:32:00.000+09:00

Well, Gambit wasn't actually in it, but...

We had a free afternoon today, so I cruised on downtown after all the students finished their classes. I wanted to get away from them for a while anyway.

First thing? Get my hands (and taste buds) on my first batch of Cajun food since leaving the States back in 2000. I did some Internet searching and found the Sixth Avenue Bistro.

Mmm, Cajun food. I had myself a Fat Tire beer (on tap) and some shrimp and sausage gumbo.

It eats away at your wallet and adds a little around the waist, but the food available in San Diego is DAMN good.

Then it was on over to Horton Plaza to catch X-Men: The Last Stand.

I love those X-Men movies, but this one was a little sub-par. The bar had been set pretty damn high with the last one, and this one didn't match up. It was your basic action fare. Not that that's a bad thing, but it just wasn't the same quality.

I was mildly disappointed, but I had a good time watching it. Wolverine was cool as always, and they had the "Fastball Special" in it, which was a nice touch.

I still wish the Ragin' Cajun had been in it, though.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 10: Misadventures Downtown

2006-08-01T23:29:00.000+09:00

Today we hit downtown for the first time as a group, with Thomas in the lead. (The girls in the group are really starting to become...fond of Thomas.)

The tour included a few of the more interesting spots in the Gaslight District and shopping at Horton Plaza.

I like the malls in San Diego. All the ones I've seen so far are open-air, a bit of a change from Columbia Center. I guess when your city is known for having some of the best weather in the U.S., you can get away with having open air malls.

We also swung by the Hard Rock Cafe downtown. I didn't buy anything there, since I already picked up a t-shirt in TJ.

That night for dinner, I headed over to City Delicatessen, a New York-style deli near my place. Good food, good beer, damn good onion rings. I am definitely enjoying San Diego.

I am noticing that the students are getting to be a bit more on edge, and there might be some group in-fighting. Crap. I'm gonna have to deal with this soon.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 9: La Jolla and The Fury of The Waves

2006-07-31T23:27:00.000+09:00

Today Thomas took us out to La Jolla (that's "La Hoya", not "La Jaw-lah").

Apparently La Jolla is one of the richer communities in San Diego, and some of the people there like to refer to themselves as living in "La Jolla", not in "San Diego".

Snobs. (heh heh)

We checked out a bit of the town and then headed for the beach.

And what a beach it was.

We even got to see a couple of seals. Cool stuff.

Then we all changed into our swimming suits and hit the surf.

The waves today were pretty vicious. Strong stuff, but I just kept on charging in there like some big dumb animal and getting smacked down on the sandy ocean floor.

I don't think I've ever had that much fun.

Although I had sand coming out of places I didn't think sand could come out of for a few days afterward.

That, and I had figured I didn't need to slap on much sunscreen, as it was cloudy.

Dumb dumb boy lacking in melanin. Dumb.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 8: 29 and Counting (Up)

2006-07-30T23:49:00.000+09:00

Welcome to the last year of your twenties, Dustin.

I turned 29 today.

Weird feeling, really. Celebrating the last year of my twenties back home in the U.S. (first time celebrating a birthday here since 1998 - yikes), yet being in a city where the only people I knew were the twelve students I was chaperoning.

Not exactly a recipe for a fun birthday.

Since it was a Sunday, and all of the students were free, I invited them to join me for brunch out at the Fashion Valley Mall. There was a restaurant I had seen out there that had me interested.

Boudin Bakery (pronunced "Bow-deen"), a San Francisco-based bakery that had clam chowder and bread bowls. Since Japan (at least the Japan I'VE experienced, no guarantee on Tokyo/Osaka/other big cities) is not that aware of the greatness that is the bread bowl, I thought I'd introduce my students to the wonder of the edible bowl.

Not only did they enjoy their brunch, but the little sneaks had made me a birthday card and gave it to me. I really wasn't expecting it, and I'll admit, it made me tear up a bit.

After brunch, everybody went their separate ways, and I headed to the movie theater to catch "Clerks II". Funny, perverse, foul, pretty much everything I've come to expect from a Kevin Smith film. But there was something that surprised me.

It actually had some poignant things to say about growing up, getting older, friendship, and how life and time can change us. Beneath all of the rudeness and crudeness, it was a sweet little film.

Felt sorry for the donkey, though.

So the movie finished, and I headed out into the San Diego afternoon.

What to do...

Sheesh. Guess I'll head back to my apartment and go to bed.

STOP THE PRESSES!!

It's your freaking BIRTHDAY!!! AND YOU WANT TO GO HOME AND SLEEP AT THREE IN THE AFTERNOON!!!???

After a bit of personal mental abuse, I decided to catch the trolley to San Ysidro and, for lack of a better phrase, "make a run for the border".

Yep, I made the trek to ol' TJ. Tijuana, that is.

Tijuana was a bit of a shock. A lot more Spanish than I'd ever heard (duh), and a feeling of being way out of my element, something I hadn't felt since I first came to Japan in December of '97.

There was a vague scent of pee, as well. Not to dog on TJ or anything, but that was one of the strongest impressions I had.

Lots of people trying to get me to buy stuff. A few offers to go into the tittie bars and "experience the local flavor". (Well, it's true! I didn't go, though. Scout's honor.)

But it was also a really fun place to check out. I walked around a bit, had a Corona at a bar, found the Hard Rock Cafe, bought a t-shirt and a shot glass, fielded a "Happy Birthday" call from my sis (Thanks, And!), and made my way back.

On my way back, I noticed some jock @$$heads making fun of a little girl who was begging for change. I felt bad, and gave her some of mine.

Big mistake.

All of the sudden, I was surrounded by little kids trying to get change from me. Man, I felt guilty, but the sudden appearance really freaked me out and I pretty much hoofed it back to the border crossing.

Funny thing. To get INTO Mexico, all you have to do is walk through a gate. To get back into the U.S., you go through about every check available except a cavity search. (Okay, not that bad, but the gap was pretty huge.)

I hopped back on the trolley and cruised back up to Old Town, then caught the bus back to University Ave. and my apartment.

Not a bad birthday all around, plus I got to go to Mexico for the first time.

Feliz cumpleanos a mi.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 7: Sea World

2006-07-29T23:48:00.000+09:00

Today we met Denise at the International House and then caught the bus to Sea World.

We just let everybody loose on Sea World after we got there, making sure that everyone knew where and when to meet that afternoon. Then The guys and I followed Denise over to the dolphin show.

Dolphins rule. This was a fun show. Leaps, laughs, and lots of folks getting splashed.

We checked out the shark building, and the arctic building, and a whole bunch of other stuff.

We also caught the Shamu show.

Wow. Orcas, up close and personal. Pictures would have been nice, but the guys and I made it a point to sit where we would get splashed. We also made it a point to buy clownfish hats. But that's another story.

After the Shamu show, I grabbed some (expensive) lunch and checked out a few more places. The starfish pool was neat.

Gotta love penguins. They rock.

Flamingos are pretty cool too.

It seemed like everybody had a pretty good time, but you can tell that there's a bit of a tiredness setting in on the group. I'm not sure how things will turn out, but it could get a lot worse before it gets any better. I'm just going to watch how things play out.

All told, Sea World was fun, but I was kinda bummed that I missed out on all the action back in the Hillcrest area, where I am staying. I think it would have been a great cultural experience for the students as well. Heh heh.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 6: Cabrillo

2006-07-28T23:44:00.000+09:00

Today after classes, we all hopped on the bus with our guide Thomas and headed out to the tip of Point Loma and the Cabrillo National Monument.

This is supposedly the location where, in 1542, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo became the first European to set foot on the west coast of North America. Pretty cool place, actually. There's a visitor's center there, and the guy working at the counter showed us some replicas of the armor and weapons that Cabrillo and his crew used. Very informative.

We had a great view of the bay that we'd taken a tour of the day before, and it was pretty cool for all of the students to be able to see the Pacific Ocean from the other side.

"So Japan's all the way across this, huh? Cool."

And we all just stood there looking at the sea.

Senor Cabrillo.

The old Point Loma Lighthouse.

After we finished looking around up at the point, we caught a bus back to Old Town, and then headed out to Mission Beach to join up with some other students from the school for a farewell barbecue party. Good times.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 5: REALLY In The Navy

2006-07-27T23:43:00.000+09:00

Today, we took a tour of the San Diego harbor (specifically, the part that is overseen by the US NAVY) and an Aegis-class destroyer, the USS Preble.

[Editor's note: to find out more about how I ended up getting my students a tour of the harbor and an Aegis Class Destroyer, see here and here.]

I got in contact with a person who works on base at the Pacific Fleet Naval Base, and he set us up with the two tours. I got some help from the International House staff in setting up a rental van, complete with driver, to get us back and forth between the different areas we needed to go to.

Once classes finished in the morning, we all had some pizza for lunch before heading out. We went across the bay to Naval Base and got set up to take a harbor tour. The original plan was for all of us to go out on one of those big troop transport ships like you see in the beginning of "Saving Private Ryan", but since we were a small group, they took us out on a different boat.

Same idea...troop transport ship, but this one was a new model. There are only six of them in the entire US Navy, four on the West Coast and two on the East Coast. That's it. Six of 'em. And we got to go out on one. This thing has jet engines instead of propellers, so it is much more maneuverable. It can go up to fifty miles an hour, spin in a circle, move sideways, and lots of other fun stuff.

Which we got to experience.

They took us out into the harbor and showed us the USS Ronald Reagan and the USS Nimitz, along with the USS Midway (decommissioned). They took us alongside the other side of the bay where all of the Navy ships were in port.

So we're all strapped in with life preservers on, and one of the crew members tells us that we're going to go out and do "some spins".

Spins?

"When I tell you to hang on, HANG ON!"

Ummm...yes sir.

So the boat starts speeding up. We're literally flying along on the water. Then our guide tells us we're only going about half speed.

DAMN.

Suddenly...

"HOLD ON!"

I tell everybody to grab onto the bars on their seats. We're barreling along, when...

WHAM!

SPLOOSH!

The boat comes to an immediate stop, dips into the water a bit, and sends a huge wave splashing over all of us.

The kids were loving it. Hell, so was I.

One of the students says, "One more time!"

ZOOOOOM! WHAM! SPLOOSH!

Laughter. These guys are having fun. Awesome.

Then we speed up again, and our guide says, "HOLD ON!"

This time, with the immediate stop, the boat does a 180 and sends a huge wave shooting off to the side.

The students' smiles are huge.

We do that two or three more times and then head back to port.

While the boat ride was fun, and seemed a lot like Splash Mountain or some other rollercoaster ride, this new transport ship has a lot of military advantages. The sudden stop/180 is an amazing development.

Next, we headed back across the bay to where the ships were in dock to take a tour of the USS Preble. We got the works. We toured the bridge, the bow of the ship (where I had to translate info about an huge cannon and the four types of missiles in the launching silos), and the war room.

That's right, the war room. The only place where no pictures were allowed.

We were told stuff like, "The person who sits here presses the buttons to launch the missiles you just saw."

And "I don't know what goes on there. Whenever we have war games, they shut the curtain and no one is allowed in or out."

Heavy duty stuff.

At the end of the day, we gave our guide a medallion of our high school as a token of our appreciation. He seemed really thrilled by it.

On the ride back to school, the students came to a realization.

"Sensei, that tour that we just took, that's not something that just anybody can come off the street and do, right?"

"That's right."

"So what we just did, that's a really rare experience?"

"Uh-huh."

"Who got that set up for us?"

"You're looking at him."

"NO. WAY!"

"Yep."

"Thank you, Sensei!"

That felt damn good.

And just in case doing all of that cool stuff didn't make the day complete, that evening I went to the movies.

Nacho Libre.

"I was wondering if you would like to join me in my quarters this night...for some toast."

Heh.

Funny flick, but it sure would have been nice if the family next to me would have done something to stop their kids from talking...THROUGH THE WHOLE MOVIE. Arrrgh.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 4: Mission Beach

2006-07-26T23:42:00.000+09:00

Classes in the morning, and a trip to Mission Beach in the afternoon.

It was, like, totally a California beach, dude. Major wave action.

The students had a great time, between biking along the boardwalk, playing in the ocean (what with it being the opposite side of the Pacific, it was a pretty exciting deal for them), and riding the rides in the adjacent amusement park.

Cool place. Huge beach. Cloudy day. (This was a good thing, as I don't tan. I BURN.)

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 3: Comics and Katsudon

2006-07-25T23:40:00.000+09:00

On time today. That's a good sign.

Today the students got placed into their various classes, and as I suspected, they were divided up between the two lowest levels.

You can only do so much to teach conversation to students, after all.

No activities planned for today, just a free afternoon. One of the students had found mention of a Japanese supermarket in SD, and a bunch of the students planned to go out there. (Geez guys, you're here for 10 days and you're already looking for Japanese food? Sheesh.)

I went along, because I was interested in what this place was like, and I didn't trust those guys not to get lost.

So we hopped on a bus and headed out. After we got off the bus, we managed to wander around lost for about half an hour until we finally found the place. (We were on the wrong side of the highway.)

Quick side note: The International House was really cool, because they provided us with transit passes good for all of the trolleys and all the buses. Of course, this was included in the program fee, so we actually paid for them, but still...

The students went nuts in that supermarket. "Oh look, such-and-such candy!" "Oh look! Such-and-such magazine!" And they were sooooo excited when the girl working the register spoke Japanese to them. Most of them had ramen. I had katsudon,a pork cutlet rice bowl. It was decent.

After that, we caught the bus back to Old Town, and then I hopped on another bus and went to The Comic Gallery, a comic shop recommended to me by former San Diego resident (current Izumo resident) Jason.

I used to be a huge comic book collector, but once I came to Japan on my exchange all those years ago, I lost an entire year's worth of story lines and was unable to follow along once I got back. I pretty much lost interest in buying monthly comics after that. (My focus shifted to trade paperbacks, but that's another story). I still enjoy comics, though, and I figured that San Diego should have an interesting comic book shop or two, so I asked Jason which one he thought I should go to. He sent me there. (They send him a shipment of comics every month.)

Cool little place. I picked up a couple of things and then caught the bus back to Old Town. I walked around, looking for someplace to get dinner. Then I spotted it.

Georgia's Greek Cuisine.

Greek food? Wow! Living in Japan, you forget there are things in the world like Greek food. (I'm not saying that to be rude...it's the truth.)

Well, that decided it. I went in and had a nice meal with a nice bottle of Greek beer. (It wasn't bad...) Then it was on the bus and back up to Hillcrest.

Just for the record, let's take a look at San Diego dining versus Muroran. Hmmm...three nights in SD: sushi, Cajun food (HOB), and Greek food. Muroran? Ummm...yakitori?

I think I like being in San Diego.

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 2: School's In Session

2006-07-24T23:39:00.000+09:00

Oh. CRAP.

I'm late.

That's how I woke up this morning.

Somehow, I failed to set my alarm correctly and overslept big time. I catch my bus in a panic and head down to the school to get started chaperoning.

Not the best way to kick off a month-long stint.

Once I got to the school, I met a couple of the other staff members. Richard (The Boss) and Denise (Activities Coordinator).

After talking for a bit, I headed in to the classroom where my students were waiting.

"DUSTIN!"

Wow. I don't think I've ever seen these guys that happy to see me. And WOW were they tanned.

I apologized to the principal, and said hello to a couple of the teachers who were administering a survey. Then the students had to take a test, so the principal and I left the room and talked for a while.

Once the placement test was finished, Jessica took us on a short tour of Old Town. It was REALLY hot, so we kept it short. After the tour, we had a pizza party outside. YES! Pizza!

Once that was finished, the students took off for their various home stay places and I talked with the principal about meeting up for dinner that night.

We met at the Old Town Trolley Station and headed downtown. Since neither of us really knew anything about downtown San Diego, I suggested we go to a place I had spotted while waiting for the trolley the night before: The House Of Blues.

Hell Yeah.

Good food, sweet music, and good beer. Aaah, it's good to be home again. (Even though SD isn't really home, of course.)

The San Diego Chronicles - Day 1: I Have Arrived

2006-07-23T23:38:00.000+09:00

Up early, out of bed, and on the road to Boise. Gotta get to San Diego. Time for me to start working for my money.

Of course, before I left, I had to get a picture with my good buddy...

Pierre.

We rolled into Boise and picked up Andrea before heading to the airport.

At the airport, we had the usual emotional goodbyes, although I didn't get too teared up because Mom and Dad were planning on coming down to visit me.

A couple of pics at the airport...

Dad and I sporting our new chrome domes, courtesy of a clipper cut the previous night.

Mom and Andrea.

So after a couple of hugs and goodbyes, I went through security, which included a metal detector scan, a partial disassembly of my sandals, a breathalyser test, two vials of blood, signing over my firstborn child, and a complete cavity search. I don't know about you, but I think the blood vials were a little over the top.

Flew Southwest again. Three flights total, one being a changeover in San Jose. When I got in to San Diego, I called my principal, who was already there with our twelve students participating in the language study course. He told me that someone from the school, International House San Diego, would be coming to pick me up.

Ohhhhhkayyyyyyyyy. The only problem is that the airport's a tad crowded, what with the San Diego Comic Con ending today.

Fortunately, Jessica (the staff member) found me pretty easily. I guess since I was the only one in the airport NOT dressed like a Stormtrooper, I was the one that stood out.

Jessica drove me up to the Hillcrest area of San Diego, over to Studio 819, where I would be staying while in the lovely metropolis.

After unpacking my stuff and making a phone call to The Boss (not Springsteen, unfortunately), I caught a bus down to the Old Town Transit Center and met up with him. We decided to catch the trolley downtown to go get some dinner.

After a bit of searching, and asking at a hotel lobby (where the receptionist kindly hooked us up with a coupon for some free stuff at the restaurant she recommended), we headed over to Ra, a sushi restaurant. (Ra. Get it? Ra sushi? HAHAHAHAHA...uh) The Boss wanted to have some Japanese food, so that's what we had. Over some beers and some decent sushi (Decent for San Diego, anyway. I've freaking lived in two of the best places to get sushi in Japan, Shimane and Hokkaido! I found some serious humor in going to a crowded trendy sushi restaurant when the conveyer belt sushi places I go to in Japan taste so much better.), we talked about the work that my chaperoning was going to entail, and he gave me a medicine bag, student info, the chaperone cell phone, a bunch of money (for "group leader expenses", and the return (to Japan) plane tickets.

Dinner was good, and after catching the trolley back to Old Town, I bid The Boss a good night and caught the bus back to Hillcrest.

About the very second I walked into my room, I got a concerned phone call from a host mother. One of my students was really sick (bleaughhh sick) and she wanted to know what to do. Tipsy, tired, and already on the job.

I took care of the situation as best as I could, and called it a night.

Welcome to San Diego, indeed.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 10: The Great Train Ride

2006-07-22T23:36:00.000+09:00

Today was the big day. The day of The Great Train Ride.

There's a train line that runs from La Grande out to Enterprise. A private company has been able to buy rights to part of the line, and a few weekends out of every year, they run a tour train along the Wallowa and Grande Ronde Rivers.

It's the Eagle Cap Excursion Train, and it runs from Wallowa to just outside of Elgin.

They're in the process of getting the rights to the last couple of miles into Elgin, and when that happens, they can run trains from Elgin all the way out to Enterprise.

This morning, we piled into the Kiddmobile with Jamie (a coworker of Dad's) and his wife and headed out to Wallowa. We pulled up to the station, got on the train, and headed straight to the open car, which had no air conditioning but had the best view.

We stayed there the entire trip, which took about six hours.

We headed out from Wallowa, following the Wallowa River through Minam, then turned off and followed the Grande Ronde River (which was significantly lower) up to just outside of Elgin. After switching the trains around and hooking up a few rail cars, we headed back.

It was a nice, relaxing trip that took us through some beautiful countryside. The lunch was pretty good, too.

Here are some pics.

Mom, Dad, and I ridin' the rails.

The engine in all its glory.

Mom, Dad, Jamie, and his wife.

You have no IDEA how hot those ties were. And yes, I AM an idiot.

On the way back, following the Grande Ronde.

Crossing the bridge where the Wallowa and the Grande Ronde Rivers meet.

Jamie.

We drove around a bit more after the train ride finished, and stopped for milkshakes. My cranberry milkshake tasted distinctly of vanilla. I wasn't very happy about that. But the battered mushrooms made up for it (a bit).

After dropping off Jamie and his wife, we headed into La Grande and stopped in at Big Behemoth Mart, where I picked up a pocketwatch and an alarm clock to use down in San Diego, as I would be taking off the next day.

All told, it was a fun day spent with my folks, and a good way to round out The Cove Chronicles.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 9: A Friday in Oregon

2006-07-21T23:35:00.000+09:00

Today, Kacey and Grandma Chambers came to Cove.

Grandma Chambers isn't my grandma by blood. I have Grandma Nelson on my Mom's side and Grandma Morgan on my Dad's side. Even so, for as long as I can remember, she's been Grandma Chambers. She and her husband have been friends of Mom and Dad for a really long time, and when we used to go visit them whenever we could.

She's 90 years old and one feisty lady. (My grandmas all tend to be feisty.)

It was really nice of Kacey to bring her up to spend the day with us. It was a surprise for her, as Kacey hadn't told her where they were going. We just hung out and spent the day relaxing and talking. It was a nice change of pace.

While Mom and Grandma hung out at home, Dad, Kacey, and I went out to a winery and vineyard near our place, Gilstrap Brothers Vineyard and Winery.

We took a tour of the place and tasted a few of their wines. I'm not a big fan of wine, but Dad and Kacey are, and I was interested in checking out the lone vineyard/winery in the bustling metropolis of Cove.

As I was wearing my full Red Sox regalia today, I got a dirty look from a dude in a Yankees cap as I left. Fuggedabowtit.

For dinner that night, Mom made some fantastic Swedish meatballs. I realized how much I've missed my Mom's cooking. Damn good stuff.

Oh, and, I umm....I...well, I guess A Tribe Called Quest said it best...

I left my wallet in El Segundo.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 8: Pirates of La Grande

2006-07-20T23:34:00.000+09:00

At last...a day in La Grande where I didn't have to DO anything.

So I decided to throw a bike in the back of our truck and catch a ride into La Grande with Mom and Dad. As I mentioned before, although I claim Northeast Oregon as my home now (well...okay, Muroran's my home, but...you get the idea), I'm not that familiar with the area. So I figured that since I had the time, and Mom and Dad had stuff to do at the office today anyway, I should try and get to know La Grande a bit more.

But before I went off exploring, the folks and I headed over to the local bowling alley for the weekly Kiwanis meeting. Mom and Dad had asked me if I would be willing to talk about life in Japan at a Kiwanis meeting while I was home, and I agreed. So that's what I did. It was a fun meeting, and the other Kiwanis members had some really good questions about Japan. Hopefully, I was able to give them some new insights into all things Japanese.

After that, we hurried over to the local movie theater, got the bike out of the truck, and I waved to Mom and Dad as they drove out to the office. Then I ran over and bought a ticket to go see "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest". There was a LOT going on in that film. Maybe a bit too much. But Johnny Depp was as awesome as ever as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Two hours later, entertained and ready to explore, I headed out into the hot afternoon streets of La Grande, slapped on my bike helmet, hopped of the bike, and started pedaling.

And stopped about five minutes later in front of a CD shop that I'd never seen before.

I headed in to see what they had, especially since I was looking for a few new CDs that had come out recently. I was pleasantly surprised with what was available. An eclectic collection of music and DVDs that included a lot of minor artists and films. Plus, the guy that ran the store said that it was possible to negotiate some cheaper prices on stuff.

Great news.

But with great news sometimes comes sad news, and this was one of those times.

"So why the discounts?"

"We're going out of business."

Figures. I find an awesome CD and DVD shop in La Grande, and the place is going to close down. Sheesh.

Oh well, I found some CDs and some DVDs that looked interesting, and made my purchase. Then it was back on the bike and out to Dad's office.

Except that it was freaking hot.

So I made a stop at a big behemoth of a store (Hint: It starts with a "W" and ends with an "almart".) and tried to call Mom and Dad.

I got the message "Our hours of operation are..." Wait a sec, how long was I in that shop? I looked at my watch. 5:30? I'd been in there for an hour and a half!

Figures.

I didn't have Dad's cell phone number, so it looked like instead of having another mile or so to go, I was going to have to bike all the way out to Cove, 15 miles away and uphill. Not so good. So I headed into said behemoth store and goofed off for a bit, looking at a few more DVDs that had caught my eye.

Let's face it...I was stalling. Wait a while longer and then I can call home and have Mom and Dad come and get me.

Then I heard a couple of familiar voices on the other side of the CD display case I was looking at.

Mom and Dad?

Again, figures.

They were the ones that raised me. They should know me the best.

"Dustin, we figured you'd be here. We also saw the bike outside." Yeesh.

So I was saved from melting away into oblivion while pedaling in the scorching heat outside for 15 miles, uphill.

Instead, we all hopped in the truck, stopped by New York Ritchie's for some pizza, and headed on home.

The best part of the day was the fact that I sunburned racing stripes onto my scalp through the air vents (?) in Dad's bike helmet. The danger and tragedy of a buzzcut. Heh.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 7: Nelson Sensei

2006-07-19T23:33:00.000+09:00

It seems like I can never get enough of the road when I head back home.

I went to school at Central Washington University, and for four years I called Ellensburg my home. I had been wanting to get back up to Ellensburg and see the old CWU area, and maybe even catch up with some folks from the area.

Today, Dad had to pick up some steel in Toppenish. He said, "Why don't you and Mom come with me, and we'll swing up to Ellensburg first?"

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

So I made a call up to Nelson Sensei, my Japanese sensei when I went to school there, and asked if we could work out some way to meet up.

He said, "My wife and I will meet you all for lunch. Call me when you get close to Ellensburg."

Again, sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

Nelson Sensei is an incredible person. He really influenced my life and the path I have taken with it, from pretty much the first day I met him.

---------------------------------------------------------------

September 1996. 9 AM. Language & Lit. Japanese 101.

A big linebacker-built guy with a beard comes strolling through the classroom entrance and starts speaking Japanese at us. I say "at" because none of us had any idea what he was saying. Jaws hit desks throughout the classroom. I remember thinking,

"I have no idea what this guy is saying, but that is cool. I want to be able to do that someday."

As classes continued, I was attracted more and more to the Japanese language because of the pure passion that Sensei had as he taught it. I decided to major in Japanese. I started working as a peer advisor for Japanese students who came over for a short-term exchange. One day, as we passed each other on campus, he called me over and told me,

"Kiddo-kun, you have a very good thing going here. Don't f**k it up."

I honestly think that was the first time a teacher had ever sworn while talking to me. The conviction in what he said, and the way he said it, had a huge effect on me, and I threw myself even more into my studies.

I am very fortunate to have had Nelson Sensei as a teacher. He has not only a passion for teaching, but a passion for learning, and a passion for living. He tends to take his talks in odd directions at times, but the perspectives on life and the information I have been exposed to during my interactions with him have made me realize how lucky I am.

And ten years later, here I am, working at a private high school in Muroran and trying my best to be able to do what Nelson Sensei did in that L&L classroom 10 years ago, and also to not f**k up what I'm doing.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Anyway, we made it up to Ellensburg safely, and after making plans to meet, I stopped by a few offices of some old acquaintances and coworkers before Mom, Dad, and I headed downtown.

We met Nelson Sensei and his wife at the Starlight Cafe and were treated to an excellent lunch that included crab chowder, which was damn good.

After lunch, we had to get back on the road to pick up that stuff for Dad and make a stop through the Tri-Cities before heading home, so we said thank you, and I got a quick photo with Sensei and his wife in front of the restaurant before we took off.

It was really good to be able to visit with Sensei again. And as much as I hope that I am doing my parents proud, I hope I am doing him proud as well.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 6: Seeing The Sights

2006-07-18T23:32:00.000+09:00

No rest for the wicked...

Today Mom, Dad, and I took off on a trip up into the hills to the west of La Grande.

We saw a buffalo ranch (that I can't upload the photo for...).

We saw some beautiful mountain scenery on our way through the hills, and even spotted an abandoned gold mine.

We also stopped in Granite, a SMALL town that started out with the mining rush in the late 1800's. Granite...Population: Tire. (If you get that joke, I salute you.)

There was an old graveyard in Granite that looked interesting, so I stopped in a snapped a few photos.

Interesting graves...they listed the cause of death on them. "Died at Birth", "Killed at Golden Monarch Mine", "Died By His Own Hand", "Murdered", "Burned To Death"...Granite doesn't strike me as being the most peaceful of places during its heyday.

Then it was on to Sumpter, where we stopped to check out the Sumpter Valley Dredge.

This thing was HUGE! It scooped up the dirt so people could mine it for gold, and it left huge piles of gravel in its wake.

Like these.

Pretty cool stuff, though.

After stopping for lunch, we proceeded on to John Day so Dad could talk a bit of business with a customer there. Nice folks, they were. On our way out of town, we stopped by the Shoe Tree.

Shoes in the tree, hence the name.

We stopped in McEwen, a stop on the Sumpter Valley Railway.

I wanted to see the trains there.

Interesting little area.

Then we headed back into Baker, where I switched driving duties with Dad (who had been driving all day), and we headed home.

It was a fun trip. I got to spend all day with my folks and get to know the area that I claim to be my home a little better.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 5: Huckleberries

2006-07-17T23:31:00.000+09:00

The day after the barbecue, it came time for people to take off for their various hometowns.

Uncle Ray and Aunt Kay left early in the morning to take Grandma Nelson back to Idaho Falls.

Grandma sure is a funny lady. We all love her, though.

After that, it was just the Shake clan and us. They all had to head back to Boise, but before that, we headed up into the hills, near the Eagle Cap Wilderness, to pick some huckleberries.

Bud, our new dog, came along with us, so while everybody else picked huckleberries, I took Bud for a walk.

There was a cool little river I found up walking around. Bud was pretty happy when we found it.

So after hiking around for a while, we turned around and headed back to where everybody was picking.

Here's my cousin Melanie's daughter Maya with her bucket of huckleberries. I think this picture is the ultimate definition of "adorable".

We bid the Shake clan a fond farewell and headed up to take a look at the Eagle Cap Wilderness trailhead. After hiking around a bit, we headed back home.

On the way there, I stopped and snapped some photos of the water line that brings water into Cove and La Grande. It's good water. Ask my Dad. He'll tell you how good it is. He may even bring you a jug full of it, if you're nice.

One more stop before we went home: an old church in Cove that has some cool stained glass windows.

It was a cool little place.

Then it was back home and downstairs to grab a beer and cool off. Now all I need to do is wait for Mom to make some of her huckleberry-raspberry jam from those berries. Oh yeah.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 4: The Party

2006-07-16T23:31:00.000+09:00

Sunday, and the big event of the day at the Kidd Family Household...
...was a big ol' barbecue.
People from Dad's office, neighbors, and a whole yardful of relatives. Aunts, uncles, cousins, little babies, coworkers...there were a heckuvalot of people there. On the menu were burgers, hot dogs, chorizos, Mom's spinach dip, Mom's clam dip, pickled asparagus, fruit salad, huckleberry cheesecake...

Basically, the folks pulled out all the stops.

It was a very cool "Welcome Back, Dustin" party.

Grandma Nelson was there.

As was the Czar. Unfortunately, as he had school and Megan had work the next day, they had to boogie out of there around 3 PM. It was damn good to hang out with him again, and we started making plans for him to come down to San Diego and visit.

Andrea and Mark came up that morning with their dog Blue and hung out for a while, but they had to get back home that night to get ready for that rafting trip.

And although he showed up a bit late for the main festivities, Dave made it down from the Tri-Cities too.

Damn good to see him as well.

So all told, I saw a lot of people I hadn't seen for too long, ate a lot of food that I hadn't eaten for too long, and relaxed for the first time in too damn long.

Good times.

Thanks, Mom and Dad.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 3: Relatives Arrive

2006-07-15T23:29:00.000+09:00

Mom and Dad contacted pretty much everybody we knew and invited them to come to the Kidd Family Ranch for a barbecue party on Sunday. The first arrivals were Czar and Megan, but more people started showing up today.

Uncle Ray and Aunt Kay brought Grandma Nelson up from Idaho Falls.
Uncle Steve, Aunt Barbara, my cousin Melanie and her three munchkins came up from Boise.

Things started to get interesting around the house.

As it was ungodly hot outside, Czar, Megan, and I spent most of the day indoors, although we made a quick trip into town to rent a couple videos.

"Sky High", which was a fairly typical Disney flick, but it had The Bruce in it. Oh, and Kurt Russell.

...and...

"Doom", which was a fairly typical video game adaptation, but it had The Rock in it, and the BFG. Heh.

All in all, a relaxed, laid-back day. Good times at home in Cove.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 2: Back To Cove

2006-07-14T23:29:00.000+09:00

Ever been mistaken for the UPS delivery man?

Neither had I, until today.

I woke up at a normal time, around 6:30 AM, which was a surprise, because the first day after I get back from Japan, I usually wake up around 3 AM, or some other ungodly hour. Not today. That massage really did the trick!

Andrea and Mark were going to be taking off for a week-long river rafting trip down the Salmon River, and Dad had some business stuff to attend to, so we were planning on getting out of there fairly early. Before I left, I figured I should swing by my Aunt Bonnie's house and say hello, as she lives just down the street from Andrea.

The last time I was home, I looked something like this.

Now I was buzzed and sporting a trim beard around my mouth only. I was also wearing a green shirt and some brown shorts. When I rang the doorbell and nobody answered, I turned around to head back to my sister's place. As I was leaving, Aunt Bonnie opened the door and peered out at me, as if she had no idea who I was. (At this point I was still unaware that I looked nothing like I had fifteen months prior.) So I said, "Mornin', Aunt Bonnie!" A look of recognition finally crossed her face. "Dustin? Wow, at first I thought you were the UPS guy."

And didn't all of my relatives find that to be oh so hilarious later on.

After talking with Aunt Bonnie for a bit, I headed back to And's and hopped in the car. After a brief stop in Meridian to get some Krispy Kremes (mmm, doughhhhnuttttss, aragaragagagahhhh), we hit the highway and headed for home.

Beautiful, scenic, rustic, out-of-the-way, tiny, population 600, Cove. Or as I call it, home.

One problem: Cove was about forty degrees hotter than Muroran had been. I'm used to hot weather. Heck, I grew up in Pasco. But this was just ridiculous.

So I just hung out indoors and waited for a phone call.

Around 3 PM, that call came.

"Dustin?"
"Czar? WASSSSSSSUP?"

Aah, yes. The one, the only, The Czar. He and his girlfriend Megan made the trip down from the greater Seattle area to come and visit little old me.

And as soon as he got to my house, you needed to break out the hip waders. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the BS was flying fast and furious.

Czar and Megan hooked me up with some goodies. A hula girl for my dashboard, a seat cover and steering wheel cover to accent that Hawaiian flavor, a Walk The Line DVD, a t-shirt that I couldn't wear at home, and Girl Scout cookies, including two boxes of Thin Mints. The Girl Scouts over in Japan are total slackers. I've never seen a box of Girl Scout cookies over there, ever. Anyway, I was a happy man.

We talked for a while, then decided to head into town for some dinner and a movie. Dinner was at New York Richie's. Philly Cheesesteaks in all their glory. Damn good. Then off to the center of entertainment for La Grande, Oregon...(cue fanfare)...the movie theater! Where a movie will last a whole TWO WEEKS if you're lucky. We went to see "Superman Returns", a "must-see" as put to me by Czar. Not much of a surprise there. He is a HUGE Superman fan. But hey, it was directed by Bryan Singer AND had Kevin Spacey in it. Plus, it was SUPERMAN! You can't go wrong with Superman!

Impressive flick. Beautifully shot, and Spacey's Lex Luthor was a good villain. Neat twist to the story too. I thought James Marsden was great, too. He never really got to be much more than a stick-in-the-mud as Cyclops in the X-Men movies, so it was good to see that he could do more than stand around and look angry at Hugh Jackman having a much cooler character. (If you want to see a good James Marsden film, check out "Interstate 60".)

After the film, we cruised back home, blew up the inflatable mattress for Czar and Megan, and after a bit more catching up on stuff, called it a day.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 1: The Forty Hour Day Part 2

2006-07-13T23:51:00.000+09:00

The thing that tripped me out with my ticket for the Southwest flight from LAX to Boise was that it said "Open Seating".

"Open Seating"? This is new.

It's like first come, first served...the first in line gets the best seats. Not a bad idea, really.

Another thing that kind of tripped me out about Southwest is that each flight consisted of several stops between the original departure point and the final destination. Much like a Greyhound bus, only it flies and you don't have to sit next to the bathroom door that won't close and emits a smell combining Lysol and sewage.

I ended up sitting in the back of the plane next to a motivational speaker (I think). Interesting fella. Flies all the time. Laid things out for me as far as how the whole Southwest seating deal works. You get on, you find a seat. You sit there for the duration of the flight. When you land, those people getting off at that stop get off the plane. Those continuing on remain in their seats to get counted. Once counted, you can change seats before the new group of passengers gets on. Cool! Again, this was all new to me, so I was intrigued by the whole process.

So we took off from LA to Salt Lake City. Speaker Dude (who happened to be a Yankee fan but was kind enough to not hassle me about my Red Sox cap) got off there to catch a connecting flight. I got counted, and then I moved up to the front of the plane. It made it really easy to get out of there when we landed in Boise.

By the time I arrived in Boise, I had been awake for about...oh, I don't know, twenty-four hours or so. I had a major case of "ugh" going on. My family busted up laughing when they met me at the airport, because I made one of my classic "ugh" faces. Apparently, my sister had bet Mom and Dad that it wouldn't take me more than five minutes before I was making "ugh" faces.

It sure was good to see them, though. Even though my brain was this side of oatmeal.

We loaded up my stuff into the car and went over to my sister's house.

Have I ever mentioned how much my parents rock? Well, my parents ROCK. They had signed me up for a full body massage with a friend of my sister's. WOW, that was a good massage. I was out cold in two minutes flat.

The lady that was doing my massage is really cool. She's a psychic, and apparently she dragged some spirits out of my body that have been with me for a long time. As in a few lifetimes long. Hey, when you've had some of the experiences I've had, nothing along the spiritual side of things will surprise you. But whether you believe the spiritual stuff or no, it was a damn good massage. I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to face the world.

After a much-deserved and much-needed shower, that is.

Then it was off to Epi's Basque Restaurant, a restaurant in Meridian, ID, that specializes in, you guessed it, Basque cuisine. My brother-in-law, Mark, works there, and Dad LOVES the food there. He loves the free bread even more. When we were working out the schedule for me coming back, he asked, "You want to go to Epi's for dinner, right?"

Talk about leading the witness.

Of course, I love the food at Epi's too, but it was obvious that Dad needed a little extra excuse to get over there.

Well, I aim to please.

Andrea's mother-in-law joined us for dinner, which was exceptionally good because Mark was the cook that evening. Good eats, a good beer or two, good conversation, and then back to Andrea's place, and good night.

Forty hours, people. Flying across the International Date Line is fun and stuff, sure, but it will mess you up.

We'll have to see if that massage helped me fight off the jet lag or not. Heh.

The Cove Chronicles - Day 1: The Forty-Hour Day Part 1

2006-07-13T23:28:00.000+09:00

That's right, forty hours.

Up around 5 AM to do a last quick check of my bags and to get cleaned up for what is bound to be a long day.

Passport? Check.
Cash? Check.
Bags pack with stuff for folks back home? Check.
Comfortable clothes? Oh yeah.

A bowl of cereal followed by washing the dishes and taking out every last piece of garbage in the house. I'm not going to be back here for five weeks. I'd better darn well take all the garbage out or my apartment could look like the mold version of The Lost World when I get back. I can picture it now...opening the door to a hot, humid mold jungle...taking two steps inside...shutting the door...and getting disemboweled by some new life form that mutated out of the coffee grounds and onions that were in the trash.

No way am I going to get eaten by garbage.

Hiroshi picked me up around 6:30, and we headed over to Starfish High. Students were already arriving (goood), so we had to get ready for them. Once everyone was there, we had a "send-off" ceremony (oh, yeah, another ceremony) and then it was time to get on the buses.

We left around 8 AM for Chitose. I helped students on both buses practice "The Sukiyaki Song" in English and Japanese. They were going to sing it at a farewell party before everyone left to head back to Japan.

We arrived at Chitose, checked our luggage, then caught our plane.

Chitose-->plane-->Haneda (Tokyo)-->bus-->Narita

Tokyo was disgustingly hot. This is to be expected, as we were experiencing early spring-like weather in Muroran up until the day we left. Heat and humidity were two unpleasant shocks to...pretty much everyone in our group.

At Narita, we checked in for our flight to LAX. And ladies and gentlemen, we had a problem.

I tried to see if I could get my bags checked through to Boise, as I was going to be leaving all of those wonderful students behind in LA and going HOME.

"No can do, sir." (Mind you, this was all in terribly polite Japanese, the kind of stuff that makes you feel bad for making someone feel like they have to use that kind of apologetic language with you. But "No can do, sir." was the gist of it.)

So now, I have to get through customs, get my bags back, get from Terminal Way The Heck Over Here to Terminal Way The Heck Over There and check in for my flight with Southwest. Never mind that customs destroyed my suitcase last time I went home, for no other reason than I looked like a drug smuggler...ummm...well, I guess that could explain why they pulled the fabric away from the edge of my suitcase, but still...I didn't even lock the thing and they busted out one of the locks on it.

You can tell I'm still a little sore about that.

The airline was kind enough to slap a PRIORITY sticker on my suitcase, but there was no guarantee that I would make my connecting flight.

So, I'm doing my "Dustin-is-freaking-out-here" act that I do every once in a while.

I call Mom and Dad, waking them up at God-only-knows what hour of the night and tell Mom that I might not make my connection, but could she please call Southwest and see if someone could meet me at the gate to help me out with connections and such. (I felt bad, but there was a feeling of sweet revenge for all the times I've answered my phone "mrrfffremmuffrremm?")

That wasn't the first time I've pulled that one either. I'm getting to be pretty good at the "Wake-the-parents-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-a-phone-call-from-an-airport-halfway-around-the-world" phone call. Summer, 1995. I had spent a month in Germany after graduating from high school. My flight back home went Dusseldorf-->Brussels-->Chicago-->Salt Lake City-->Pasco. I had two hours in Chicago to get through customs and get checked in to my next flight. Here's the kicker. The flight from Brussels to Chicago was delayed...for two hours. So I call up Mom and tell her I might not be able to make my flight from Chicago in time.

Fortunately, both times I've made that call, everything has worked out alright.

We board the plane as a huge group and get put in the back of the plane. All sixty-plus of us. I can't even begin to imagine how annoyed the other passengers were with us, but I was ready to snap about three hours out of LA.

Never, ever, EVER travel with sixty high school juniors on an overseas flight.

Not if you want to keep your sanity.

I can't sleep on planes. It's not a fear thing; I just can't sleep on them. That's why I'm so grateful for the personal screens they provide in economy class now. Makes the eight hours go by so much quicker. So not being able to sleep on planes is no longer a big a deal as it was four or five years ago.

But for crying out loud! Students were getting up and walking around, talking too loud, and generally being obnoxious little s***s. Trust me, you would have felt the same way three hours out of LA.

As we made our final approach, landed, and taxied into our gate, I made sure I was ready to grab my carry-on bag and get the heck off of that plane. The seat belt sign turned off, I said bye to everyone, and boogied off of that plane. It was a pretty smooth go through customs, and I was back on U.S. soil. Aaah, smell that (cough cough) fresh LA air.

I hustled on over to the Southwest Terminal, and after rearranging my baggage a little bit, I got checked in to my flight to Boise without any real trouble.

Then it was on to the gate to catch that flight home...

And on that note, I will break this post into two parts. I don't want this to turn into The Forty Hour Post or anything...eh, Czar?

And We're Off!

2006-07-12T09:34:00.000+09:00

The past week has been far too hectic to even bother recapping, but let me just say this:

As of tomorrow, The Muroran Chronicles will be going on a short hiatus.

Since I'm not going to be in Muroran and all.

From July 13th to July 23rd, this page will feature The Cove Chronicles.

From July 24th to August 20th, this page will feature The San Diego Chronicles.

Since that's where I'll be and all.

Packing is finished.

Lodging is arranged, and it's not going to be with a host family after all. YES!!!

The garbage will be thrown out tonight.

This will be my first time back in the US since April 2005, when I looked more like Red Sox-era Johnny Damon and less like Richard Moll.

I am muy excited. (Gotta brush up on my Spanish. Going to Mexico for a day and all.)

The Long Road Home

2006-07-05T22:08:00.000+09:00

Editor's note: I had more photos to add to the first part of this blog, but I couldn't get my computer to cooperate. When I get back to Japan I'll update this.

So the long journey home began...

The ground Eisaku and I had covered in two days now had to be covered in one long drive from Nemuro all the way back to Muroran. We woke up and turned on the TV to news that North Korea had been lobbing missiles in our general direction. Okay, more in the direction of the NK/China/Russia side of the Sea of Japan, but when there's not a whole lot of ocean separating the two countries, it sure as hell feels like it's in our general direction. Fortunately, as I have mentioned in previous posts, we were as far east as you can get in Japan, so...when you're dealing with a dictatorship run by that fun dude Kim Jong, you have to try and look on the bright side of things.

So not exactly a great way to start off the day, but after following a bit of the news, we packed up and checked out. First stop: Nemuro Izumo Shrine.

I'd spotted the name on a tourist map of the town and knew that I had to stop by and see it. So we did. Eisaku slept in the car while I took a look around. Nobody was there to talked to, so I respectfully prayed, took a few photos, and hit the road again.

Next stop: Higashi Nemuro Station, the REAL easternmost station in Japan. The line curves out east from Nemuro Station before heading back toward Kushiro and the rest of civilization. It took a little searching and a lot of getting lost, but we found it, snapped a few pictures, and hit the road again.

Next stop: Kuruma-ishi, or "Car Stone". There is an area along the southern coast of Nemuro, near Hanasaki Port, that has some interesting geologic formations, one of which apparently looks like a car. If you squint, tilt your head 37 degrees to the left, take a shot of Spiritus, and sing a rousing chorus of "Michael, Row The Boat Ashore", you might see it. In other words, ummmm, o-kay. We took a few pictures and hit the road again.

Next stop: back over to Nemuro Station to get a sampling of escaroppu, a beef cutlet with a glaze sauce over buttered rice. It's a Nemuro culinary delight. Check this page out and see for yourself. We wanted to give it a try before we left, since this was a Debuwagon Tour and all. We went to the restaurant that started it all, Monburan.

It was tasty, but the service left a lot to be desired. I'm not sure, but I think the waitress was actually deathly afraid of big ol' scary foreigner me. Either that or people in general. Any time Eisaku would try and ask her a question, she'd talk while walking away, and we could never get a clear answer out of her. Needless to say, she didn't get a tip. But then again, you don't tip in Japan. Moot point.

Back on the road, this time, REALLY pointed west and heading back. It was 10 AM and I wanted to get back into Muroran before the date changed. So I started driving and Eisaku started catching some Z's.

That is until I woke him up in Akkeshi. We'd stopped at the rest area there the day before, and he'd mentioned that he wanted to try the raw oysters on the half shell offered on the restaurant menu there. (Japanese rest areas are a sight to behold. Really elaborate...lots of stuff, not just a toilet and a volunteer group offering coffee.) So he had his oysters, I had a cup of coffee, and somewhere in between all of that, according to the national news, North Korea had lobbed another missile in our general direction.

Once back in the car, Eisaku was out cold again. I kept driving until I noticed a rather odd looking train station and stopped to take a couple of photos. Oboro Station is converted rail car with some cute animal paintings on it, and it just looked interesting. While Eisaku napped, these photos I snapped.

Then off we were again, following Route 44 through Kushiro City and hitting Route 38 which had us heading west toward Obihiro. Eisaku slept through Kushiro, slept through a bathroom break I took, slept damn near all the way to Obihiro. We made a couple of stops after he woke up, though.

One was to get some photos of a weird, abandoned (or not?) factory complex that had grass growing on the roofs of some of the buildings. Worth one shot, at least.

This was in Makubetsu, just east of Obihiro.

The other photo-op was also in Makubetsu. It was something I'd noticed on the way out to Nemuro the day before. A shrine (gee, there's a surprise). Ahh, yes, but THIS was not just any shrine. THIS was WHITE PERSON Shrine.

Explanation is necessary here. The two kanji characters used in the shrine name were the characters for "white" and "person". I know that this was just a coincidence of matching characters to the original Ainu place name in the area (my theory, anyway), but seeing that stone pillar with WHITE PERSON Shrine written on it made me laugh.

Even better was this.

We also found WHITE PERSON Elementary School.

Trust me when I say that I wish I could make this stuff up.

Then it was time to make a stop for another Obihiro culinary delight, this time the curry at Indian, a chain of curry rice stores in and around Obihiro.

Yep. Indian.

The curry was quite tasty, though.

After that, there were a few more pit stops on the way home, but it was pretty much a straight shot back to Muroran. Five hundred kilometers (312 miles) in one day. That may not seem so bad, but consider that it actually took THE ENTIRE DAY, and you can understand a bit.

The whole trip, over the three-day period, was 1000 km (625 miles). Good times. Long, but much good food was consumed, and much beautiful scenery was...well...seen.

Thus ends the story of the Debuwagon journey to Nemuro and back.

Out To Nemuro, and Oh Yeah, It's The Fourth Of July! (Part 3)

2006-07-04T23:56:00.000+09:00

Blue King Crab

We found our hotel with relatively little difficulty. It was "The E-KU-HA-SHI House".

Here it is. By the way, E-KU-HA-SHI takes its name from the first sounds in the names of the four disputed islands in the Northern Territories: Etorofu, KUnashiri, HAbomai, and SHIkotan.

A really sweet old lady welcomed us at the counter and answered our questions about Nemuro as we got checked in. Questions mainly relating to food. Specifically Blue King Crab. She told us to check out "Orenchi (My House)". Good seafood at reasonable prices.

And after a quick drive downtown, we found it.

The atmosphere inside was really cool. The owner was sitting in front of a grill, cooking up different kinds of food. Lots of ambiance.

We sat down. We ordered drinks. We ordered food. We ordered one Blue King Crab.

I look SO happy.

We split the crab. Four legs for me, four legs plus all the crab guts for Eisaku. Yep. Crab guts. Not a big fan, but Eisaku seemed happy to take on the Crab Gut Challenge.

He came out victorious. My battle with the crab legs was not so fortunate.

Damn, that was some good crab.

After the meal, Eisaku got behind the wheel and drove us back to the hotel. It would be the only driving he did all weekend.

After a quick soak in the bath, it was lights out. Big day, and a big drive back, tomorrow.

Out To Nemuro, and Oh Yeah, It's The Fourth Of July! (Part 2)

2006-07-04T22:35:00.000+09:00

Adventures at Cape Nosappu

Eisaku and I drove through central Nemuro and continued out to the coast. We kept going east and kept going east until we could go east no further, passing "Give us back the Northern Territories!" signs along the way with increasing frequency. There was even a place alongside the road that seemed to be a hangout for right-wingers, complete with big black vans with huge speakers that blare imperialistic anthems and a sign that said "TAKE back the Northern Territories!" (meaning forcibly). Oh yeah, let's just go to war with Russia over some islands that nobody really wants to live on. Asses.

So we get out there, and the fog is THICK, and the excitement that's been building up for seeing these disputed islands just leaves me.

Second time now. That fog has kept me from being able to look across the water and say, "Hey! That's Russia! COOL!" Back in early May, I tried and failed, so I was really hoping that this time around...

Ah well. We were still as far east as we could go in Japan. Plus, there were fun building dedicated to the sole unrelenting purpose of saying, "Hey! Russia! Give us our islands back!" There was an arch with a flame below it, which I thought was kind of cool, but I got a good laugh when the flame went out RIGHT AT five PM. Hmmm, I guess after hours you don't want the islands AS BAD. There was also a building with an observatory tower, designed for looking across the water and saying, "Hey! That's Russia! Give us back our islands!" This also closed at five and cost 10 bucks, so we passed.

After taking a look around at a couple of shops, Eisaku and I decided to head over to the lighthouse and stand as far east as we can get and still be in Japan.

This is the Cape Nosappu lighthouse. It was really foggy.

Me, checking out the fog, and the wreckage of some ship that must have crashed against the rocks and just been left there.

This is it. I'm as physically close to the U.S. as I can be and still be in Japan. Fitting, what with it being the Fourth of July and all.

Eisaku striking a pose...of some kind.

This was the lighthouse's foghorn. It was LOUD (which, I guess, is a good thing). Loud enough to shake your insides, and scare the bejeezus out of you if you're not prepared for it.

I had to climb down and take a closer look at that wreckage. It was pretty cool stuff, although the waves crashing pretty close to where I was made me a tad nervous.

After we got our fill of lighthouse and shipwreck and foghorn fun, we headed back to the car.

Eisaku snapped this photo of three seaweed harvesting boats. Seaweed is a big commodity out here.

We drove back on the north side of the peninsula and headed for downtown Nemuro and our hotel. On the way there, we came across a native flower field that had ponies in it.

We took a look.

I didn't quite know where our hotel WAS exactly, so we stopped by Nemuro Station to ask for directions. While we were there, we snapped a few photos.

This sign claims that Nemuro Station is the easternmost station in Japan. That is a baldfaced lie. Which is why I look so skeptical. More on this soon.

Captain Eisaku, atcher service.

We figured out where our hotel was, so we took off for it to check in and go eat dinner...

Out To Nemuro, and Oh Yeah, It's The Fourth Of July! (Part 1)

2006-07-04T21:46:00.000+09:00

On The Road Again...

I woke up feeling fine. Eisaku? Not so well. But we headed out anyway, ready to face the day.

First stop: Rokkatei, a nationally famous candy shop based out of Obihiro. There"s free coffee, and they sell a "crispy pie" there that you can't get anywhere else. So, for a quick breakfast snack for me and a hangover-beater for Eisaku, we made a stop.

Mmmm, crispy pie....(drools)

Then we called out to Marumatsu Shokudo to see what time they opened. The lady that runs the place said we could come a little early, so after killing some time in the shopping arcade, we hit the road and made our way over there.

Eisaku is the one who told me about Obihiro's famous butadon. He's also the one who told me that they're expensive and not really all that much to write home about. So when I came back from my first trip to Obihiro raving about the butadon mastery that is Marumatsu Shokudo, he was skeptical. Today I planned to prove him wrong.

In front of Marumatsu Shokudo.

The lady who runs the place, cooking up a couple fine butadon.

Eisaku, looking skeptical.

Then he took a bite. He chewed. He smiled. He looked over at me and said, "I was wrong. This. Is a damn fine butadon."

Celebrating my victory.

As always, the lady that runs the place was great. She hooked us up with miso soup and some vegetables for free. She is so cool.

And after thanking her, we hit the road, heading east toward Kushiro and Nemuro.

It was pretty much nonstop through Kushiro, a fairly big city that seems really poorly planned out. Example: an elementary school right ext to a pulp mill.

We cleared Kushiro with little incident and were on our way out to Nemuro when Eisaku asked me to turn the car around and pull into a rest area we had just passed. He had noticed a sign advertising oysters, and since he's been on an oyster kick since late last year, he wanted to go. Cool with me. So I turned around, headed back, went into the shop, and...

...watched the man eat his oysters.

I'm not a big fan myself.

The drive from Kushiro to Nemuro was fairly uneventful as well, although the lay of the land was eerily similar to back home in the states.

Rolling hills, straight roads, no cars around...

...hay bales...

We made a stop at the Nemuro border to get a shot in front of the "Welcome To Nemuro...Now Give Us Back Our Islands!" sign (it's not in the pic up top, but it was in that area), and then continued on.

We also stopped in a place called "Onnetto" to get a picture of the landscape, which, while cloudy, was still pretty impressive.

Then it was back on the road toward central Nemuro and parts beyond...

...To Be Continued...

Debuwagon Part 2: Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnd We're Off!

2006-07-03T23:21:00.000+09:00

Since we had to work on Saturday and Sunday for the school festival, we were given Tuesday and Wednesday as days off.

So Eisaku and I decided to make plans for another Debuwagon trip.

For those of you who are uninitiated into the world of the Debuwagon, let me explain how it came about.

There's a TV show here in Japan called "Love Wagon", or as it's pronounced over here, "Rabuwagon". Young adults from around Japan tour the world in a pink van, trying to find love. They choose to profess their love to another member with the understanding that whatever the response, he or she is going home. Sometimes a new couple goes back to Japan together, sometimes one person leaves by himself or herself.

Eisaku and I like to eat. We especially like to eat good food. So our trips around Hokkaido eating various delicacies have been dubbed "Debuwagon", "debu" being the word for "fat" over here.

Anyway, it's all about the food, and the word was that there's good eatins out Nemuro way. Specifically, hanasakigani, or Blue King Crab.

Awww yeah.

So I made reservations for places to stay and provided the wheels.

Today we had to clean up the school, post-festival style. Once the bell rang at 4:30, I was out the door and on my way over to Eisaku's place to pick him up.

Quick stop in Tomakomai for coffee, then straight on to Obihiro and our lodging for the night.
Our not-so-spacious room in the Casa Hotel in Obihiro.

After checking in, we headed out into town to get some eatins. Marumatsu Shokudo was closed, so there would be no butadon goodness for us this night.

Hmmm, Moulin Rouge, Obihiro style.

After some searching and some discussion, we decided to hit Obihiro's Yatai-mura, an area comprised of food stands featuring all types of food.

We ended up popping into a place that advertised a three-blue cheese plate that sounded really good.

This is it. A food stand. We're talking high-quality food stand. With a ham hock. And Guiness.

DAMN GOOD spare ribs. I smiled when I ate them. Hell, I smiled when I ate anything here.

A blue cheese pizza. Roquefort. Mmmmmmm.

Escargot-style shellfish of some kind. I didn't touch 'em, but Eisaku said they were tasty.

They had cheese, ham, chorizos, salami, more cheese...

A tasty, tasty meal. Apparently, we were lucky it was Monday night, because it's usually packed.

Funny thing, the other customers that were there kept talking about Shimane.

Then it was back to Casa Hotel and off to sleep, 'cuz we had a big day ahead of us.

The School Festival

2006-07-02T20:14:00.000+09:00

Whew. It's over.

For the past two days, Starfish High has put on its yearly school festival.

I was a bit wary at first, but I had a hell of a good time.

This year's festival theme was "Catch The Wave", and the school decorations followed the theme pretty well.

Like this whale.

There was a big wave set up at the school entrance, complete with surfer. Unfortunately, there aren't any good photos of it available.

Each class set up a display.

3C went with a Chinese theme.

1B went with a design based on a couple of famous cartoons, "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Sazae-san".

3B designed a very scary haunted house.

1A set up a 1950's-1960's style classroom.
2A had a maze/treasure hunt. They also showed a clip of the movie "Juon". I was not very happy about that. Japanese horror is SCARY.
2B had a games room set up, complete with darts, card games, and Othello. It looked like a gambling den.
2C set up a flea market, with all of the proceeds going to the survivors of the earthquake in Java.
3A went with a World Cup theme and had a soccer goal kick target game. Fun stuff.

Each class also had a presentation on stage.

1A - dancing, music, plus two guys doing their own version of the two Chinese guys lip-synching to "I Want It That Way".
1B - singing, dancing, and a quiz game
2A - a fashion show, with all of the guys in the class dressing up in drag. Some of them made cute girls, especially Hiroshi.

S-E-X-X-Y.

2B - dancing to some classic Japanese pop music, Pink Lady and Hikaru Genji.
2C - sang and danced to a hip-hop version of Queen's "We Will Rock You" (some of the students made a band and played the song, too)
3A - Mitsuya's Comedy Hour (quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen, but a bit difficult to explain if you've never met Mitsuya)
3B - a play called Great Teacher Kawata, starring Matsuura (again, not the easiest thing to explain)
3C - a play about two princesses, one who has never laughed in her life and one who can't stop laughing

You could tell that a lot of time and effort went into the classroom designs and the performances. Very cool.

Saturday, the student band club started off the festivities, and the band I was in kicked things off.

I must say, it was a damn fine show.

Other student bands played as well, although some of them weren't involved with the club. We also had a trumpeter, two violinists, two pianists, and two ballerinas.

Very cool.

We played two songs on Saturday. Then, on Sunday...

...we played the same two songs on stage...

...and then moved upstairs for a mini show. We played five songs there.

Seven songs total. It's like we actually put on a real show.

I was exhausted after work, so I went home and caught a few Z's, and now I'm off to have a beer or three in celebration.

Tomorrow

2006-06-30T21:09:00.000+09:00

Our school festival is tomorrow.

Preparations and general exhaustion have kept me from posting much about things lately, especially since there wasn't much to talk about, but...

The decorations are up.

The classrooms are all set up for various activities.

My head is freshly shaven.

We're all ready to go.

I'm actually pretty excited.

AND...

I will be singing with a student band.

Two songs on the main stage, five songs up in the "Live House" room.

The two main stage songs are...

Sum 41, "Makes No Difference"

I don't really like these guys, but it is a fun song to sing.

Jet, "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?"

This one is a good song AND it's fun.

The five "Live House" songs are...

Queen, "We Will Rock You"

I can't help but think of stomping my feet on the concrete floor of the arena while watching the Tri-City Americans...

KISS, "Detroit Rock City"

The rock gods in all their glory...these guys are pretty dang good.

Nirvana, "Smells Like Teen Spirit"

The song that started it all. Long Live Seattle Rock.

Twisted Sister, "We're Not Gonna Take It"

I love this video. A true classic...in all its cheesy glory. "I carried an M-16 and you...you carry that...that...that...guitarrrrrrrrr."

and...

Mr. Big, "To Be With You"

speaking of cheese...

Fortunately I'm not required to dress up like any of these bands. Whew. I was worried that I was gonna have to dig out my platform boots and my white makeup. Or for that matter, my big hair blond wig.

Pictures will be available with the weekend post. Decorations, band, etc. Stay tuned.

DWAM Part 2

2006-06-27T23:10:00.000+09:00

So the mortician and I went out for dinner again tonight.

We went to Oraga-mura, a monja-yaki restaurant in the Wanishi area of Muroran.

The conversation was fun and the food was delicious, but I ordered too much food (hey, I was hungry). We were both stuffed by the time we left.

It was a shorter dinner date than last time, but hopefully we will be able to hang out again soon.

Homestay? WTF?

2006-06-26T21:45:00.000+09:00

I am none too happy with my workplace right now.

I was told that while I was in San Diego, I would be able to stay in a bed and breakfast. That meant a lot of freedom to do what I wanted to do.

I was told to fill out a form about myself, one that the students had to fill out so they could be assigned to host families.

I was told it was just so the program could have some information about me.

Watta load of crap.

The principal hinted that I might get placed with a host family, since our school doesn't have the funds for me to stay in a hotel. But when I checked with the program coordinator, he told me that the B&B plan was still in effect.

Watta load of crap.

We had our final parent-student-teacher meeting in preparation of the school trip next month. After it finished, we had a short meeting in the director's office.

I walk in and they tell me that they need to know what time my plane arrives in San Diego so my host family can come and pick me up.

Come again?

Your host family.

My host family?

Your host family.

And everybody laughs.

Yeah. Really &%$#*@ funny.

Damn bait and switch tactics. If you're planning on placing me with a host family, have the &%$@# decency to be up front with me about it.

Geez. I'm 28 freaking years old. If I wanted to participate in a homestay, I'd just stay in Cove the whole time I was in the US.

Makes more sense than staying with some family in San Diego.

I just really feel like I got shafted and wasn't treated with a lot of professional respect in this situation.

Just be up front with me about it.

&%#$@*

Koyoi No Hatago ha Izuko e?

2006-06-25T23:47:00.000+09:00

...or, "Where am I staying tonight?"

Today Nabe, Fusako and I got up early and headed east.

We went to check out a couple of Edo period "rest stations" on the Nakasen-do, a road that travelers took between Kyoto (the former capital) and Edo (Tokyo). The two places we went to see were Magome and Tsumago, both located in the Kiso valley on the border of Gifu and Nagano Prefectures. They were very interesting places to visit. There were hatago (old hotels), museums covering the historical relevance of these stations, and shops selling all kinds of snacks (YUM!), which all created a pervasive atmosphere of the Edo Period. Very cool. Plus, Nabe filled me in on all sorts of historical info connected with the area. He would make an awesome history teacher.

So we cruised around all day, checking out these places, and then they took me to the airport to see me off.

We had dinner at an airport restaurant that served Nagoya specialties.

Curry udon noodles and a pork cutlet with a miso sauce. Very, VERY good.

Definitely made up for the atrocity of the day before.

I am really lucky to have friends like Nabe and Fu-chan. Thanks a bunch, you guys. Take care of that baby of yours.

Culinary Travesties, and Other Nagoya Fun

2006-06-24T23:57:00.000+09:00

Nabe and Fusako had a lunch that they had to go to today. Something about reservations and not being able to get into the restaurant for six months or something goofy and otherwise outside of my realm of experience. I was free to goof off in the big metropolis that is Nagoya.

They gave me a ride over to the red cross hospital in the Yagoto area of Nagoya, where I had made plans to meet up with three former Starfish High students.

Sanae, Oshita, and Rui.

These three crazy kids are attending Nanzan University, a high-level private university. It's also Catholic, and as Starfish High is catholic as well, we have a bit of an "in" there. As long as the applicants pass the specific requirements, Nanzan sets aside admission spots for our school. With the "demand" to get into "Nanzan" being much more than the "supply" of available spots, Nanzan is a difficult place to get into. But these three did.

What with me being in Nagoya anyway, I contacted these guys and said I'd take them to lunch. Since a free lunch is always a welcome gift to a university student, they readily accepted. I figured it would be a good chance to check up on them as well.

Oshita suggested a restaurant called "Mountain" (sorry, Japanese only). I had been thinking about some stuff myself, but with Oshita's guarantee of "crazy food", I figured it would be entertaining to check out, if nothing else.

So we all met up and walked on over to Mountain. There was a line, but they gave us a menu and told us to wait.

Wow.

This place had some crazy shtuff on the menu. Banana split spaghetti. Tomato parfait. Sweet bean paste on toast.

Yeesh.

There was some normal stuff as well, and I decided to go with something along those lines.

Then they showed us to our seats and I made the worst mistake of my entire life.

On our way to our table, I saw a guy eating something that looked like a big hamburger on rice with some pineapple slices on it. Hmmm. Now that looks tasty. Plus, the menu had listed a hamburger-on-rice item, so I asked our waitress what the hamburger-looking thing was.

"Oh, that's not on the menu, but we can make it. It's called 'Ogura-don'."

I should have recognized that something was amiss when I heard the name, but I figured that was just what they called it. So I ordered one ogura-don. Sanae ordered the tuna and eggplant with tomato sauce spaghetti. Rui ordered the codfish egg spaghetti.

And Oshita ordered this.

That's right, the banana split spaghetti.

We all laughed and teased him. Little did I know what horror was awaiting me.

My meal came out next.

At first glance, it does look a little bit like a huge hamburger on rice, so I think you can understand how I would be fooled.

How wrong I was. I realized that when I heard the word "ogura", it wasn't a random name but a description of the item itself.

"Ogura" is sweet bean paste.

That's right. I ordered a sweet bean paste on rice meal.

One thing I should inform you of here is that I don't particularly like sweet bean paste.

Especially when it comes in huge dollops on top of hot rice coated in a strawberry sauce with kiwi fruit mixed in it.

The second I understood what I'd ordered, I lost my will to eat.

(I will admit that the comedic value of this is priceless, though.)

However, I decided to give it the old college try. (Plus, I was ticked off that the waitress didn't bother to tell me that the "hamburger-looking thing" was not hamburger at all and decided to eat it out of sheer rage.)

But rage will only take you so far, especially when you're dealing with THIS.

Ick.

The Nanzan Kids told me that I had to get a photo of the expression on my face, so here it is.

I fought a brave, but ultimately futile battle. I got about halfway through, but even with assistance from normal food, I just couldn't choke it down.

The white flag.

So I was pretty much out of commission for a while. We all went out for coffee afterwards. The coffee was good, but my stomach didn't like me very much.

The four of us hung out for a while, taking a tour of Nanzan U. Nice place.

Sanae and Rui had stuff to do, but Oshita joined me for a show that night at a club in Nagoya. My friends from The Bon (Scroll down to the picture. The two on the left are my friends.) were there, playing . Great show, although it would have been nice to see a little more of them. Their set was a bit short.

A rather ecletic group of bands played, but it was a fun show. I got to say hello to my friends before we cruised out of there, as well. Oshita and I parted ways, and Nabe came and picked me up.

It was altogether a good, although hot, day. The Nanzan Kids were doing well, which was something we were concerned about back at SH. And although my stomach still is not very fond of me, it is starting to consider taking me back.

Time heals all kindsa wounds.

Off To Nagoya!

2006-06-23T22:28:00.000+09:00

I'm in Nagoya this weekend.

Shimane last weekend, Nagoya this one...my miles are starting to add up.

Originally, I was going to spend this weekend down in Mie Prefecture taking part in a formal shrine visit to The Grand Shrine of Ise. A friend of mine in Tokushima was planning on starting up a group dedicated to making pilgrimages to shrines around the country that enshrine deities that protect certain parts of the body. Visit all of them and you're protecting your entire body. It's a pretty cool concept that has involved a lot of research on his part to find these shrines.

I bought my tickets early in order to get a decent discount on them, and was pretty excited for the trip.

Then, a few weeks ago, I got a call from his wife.

"My husband's had a stroke and is recovering. He's slowly getting better, but he's in no shape to conduct that meeting in Ise. We're going to reschedule it for some other time."

Wow. A stroke. Poor guy. But at least he's doing okay.

So I figured I would return my tickets for a full refund.

That's what I figured. What actually happened was that my travel agent told me I could only get about half of the money I paid for the tickets back, because I'd bought them with the early bird discount.

Huh?

So I said the heck with it and made plans to visit my friends and some Starfish High graduates in the Nagoya area over the weekend. A good chance to get out of Hokkaido and to catch up with some folks I hadn't seen for a while.

So I called up my good buddy Nabe and made plans to stay at his place over the weekend. He and his wife Fusako were going to be busy on Saturday, so I e-mailed the three SH grads and made plans to meet up with them as well.

Everything was set, and today I took off from work and caught that plane to Nagoya.

They parked the dang plane at the very far end of the airport, so I had to march it on over to the train station double-quick to catch a train to Nagoya Station, where Nabe and Fusako picked me up. We cruised back to their place and had some drinks and sat around and talked until the wee hours of the morning.

We had a couple of reasons to celebrate.

Nabe, Fusako and I have been friends for ten years now. They came to Central on the Asia University America Program back in April of 1996. Nabe lived in the same dorm as I did, and we quickly became friends. Although he won't admit it, I figure I kind of freaked him out at first. This weird 18-year-old kid comes into his room one day and hands him a CD of the Hideo Nomo song (a reworking of "The Banana Boat Song" - Hi-DAY-o, Hi-Day-ay-ay-o) because he has a Hideo Nomo poster up in the room. A tad freaky. But we became fast friends and have kept in touch ever since. He's the one that suggested I study Japanese. He's visited me in the States a couple of times, and he was one of the few Tokyo friends of mine who bothered to come out to Shimane to visit me. He had me make a speech at his and Fusako's wedding last year. He's an awesome guy and I'm proud to say he's my friend.
Nabe and Fusako are going to be PARENTS at the end of the year. (Fusako stayed away from the booze for this reason.) Congratulations, you guys.

It was really good to see those guys again.

Just When I Thought Japan Couldn't Get Any Weirder

2006-06-22T14:19:00.000+09:00

Editor's note: This post is not for the weak of spirit, or for those offended by jokes about porn.

I went shopping at Daiso, the Hyaku-en Shop, today.

Basically it's the Japanese version of The Dollar Store.

Jack and I had to go and buy some stuff for our decoration groups. Daiso is always the first place we look, because stuff is cheap there.

Now I've mentioned in these pages before that whenever I think I've got Japan figured out, it comes back and lays the smack down on me.

It happened again today.

I was walking past the 100 yen CD rack, when a rack of CDs caught my eye.

Now that's a little odd.

I turned to Jack.

"Hey Jack! These CD covers look like porn jackets, really cheap porn jackets."

Jack came over for a look, and then laughed. "Yeah, they do."

Then, I looked at the sign posted above the rack.

It said:

It is strictly prohibited to sell or show the VCDs and DVDs lined up here to anyone under the age of 18.

No.

Freaking.

Way.

Those weren't CDs.

I picked one up and looked at the back cover.

Porn.

For 300 yen a pop. (Ooh. Perhaps that's a bad choice of wording.)

When Daiso says they take care of all your needs, I guess they REALLY mean it.

This country never fails to surprise me.

School Festivities

2006-06-19T20:19:00.000+09:00

Starfish High's school festival is coming up soon.

July 1 - 2, to be exact.

I have been given the responsibility of decorating part of the school. Let me rephrase that. To be in charge of a group of students who are decorating part of the school.

Problem.

I have no idea what I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm still exhausted from the Shimane trip, and I tried to follow the discussion the students were having about how they wanted to decorate things, but it just wasn't happening.

So I'm kind of lost.

I guess the students know what they're doing, though. They have some good ideas and a lot of motivation, it seems. I just need to help the group stay focused and get their job done.

We'll see what happens.

Happy Father's Day

2006-06-18T23:09:00.000+09:00

I don't have a cute little train ticket this time around. Unfortunately there are no "Love Your Father" stations in Japan.

I do have this picture though.

It says, "A father dreams of being a kid again."

Not a bad slogan.

Happy Father's Day, Dad. As Mom says, we'll always be Kidds.

I Have Returned

2006-06-18T22:06:00.000+09:00

...and my name ain't even Patton.

I woke up this morning and made my way over to the onsen on the south side of the station. First rule of day-after recovery: hit the onsen and sweat it out.

Which is what I did.

Since I'd had to make a quick change of plans and go back to Izumo, on top of the fact that I hadn't contacted that many people about my going back to Shimane, I was without anyone to hang out with. And I had an entire day to kill off. My flight back didn't leave until 4:30.

So I stuffed my bags in a locker and rented a bike.

I pedaled around town a bit, swinging by some old hangouts, and then made my way out to the Jinzai area of Izumo on the west side of town. An old student of mine lives out there, and I decided to bike out and visit her and her family.

I hung out there for a while, joining them for lunch. It was cold somen, a traditional summer meal, if you can call it that. When the weather is as hot and as humid as it gets in Japan, people tend to lose their appetites. Somen is a simple food that goes down easily and cools you off, which makes it popular in the summer. I forgot about somen, living in Hokkaido.

It was nice. I was hoping to eat some Izumo soba, but the somen made for a nice simple meal.

My student's mom told me that they would give me a ride, which I interpreted as a ride back to the station. Turned out, she meant the airport. We didn't figure out that there had been confusion until we got back to the station with the bike in the back of their car.

I thought I had to get back earlier, yet they (the mom and dad) were telling me that there was plenty of time still.

So they took me all the way out to the airport. Very cool.

I did a little bit of souvenir shopping at the airport, which included buying this.

Gorilla Boogers. It's actually dried sweet black beans, but I love the name. Gorilla Boogers. Apparently, the guy that made these translated the product name and is selling them in zoos around the world.

Shimane. Your gateway to the world.

Then I caught my plane to Tokyo, and another back to Hokkaido. It was cold here when I got back.

Naturally.

The Reception and Everything After

2006-06-17T23:59:00.000+09:00

I got a ride from Yaegaki Shrine over to the Ichibata Hotel on the north side of Lake Shinji. After dropping off my bags at the hotel, I went for a walk over by the castle for some snacks. Croquettes at Kitagaki Meat Shop (yum), and sweet flour dumplings at a little tea shop behind the castle (double yum). Then I walked back to the hotel.

I had worked up a bit of an unfortunate sweat, but the walk was still pretty nice.

I came back and signed in, paying for my dinner and getting the video camera out to continue with my taping duties. I also talked with Mike about my lodging for the night.

Problem.

Mike and Nina had told me that I could crash at their apartment that night, since they were going to be staying in the hotel. When I asked Mike for the keys, he got a really shocked look on his face and said, "Ah."

"There's some other friends of ours staying there, actually."

Hmmm. This presents a problem.

"We'll figure something out. Don't worry."

Then, when it came time to go into the reception area, Nina said, "Hey Dustin, can you figure out something?"

Oh. Sure. No problem. It's only 6 PM and the reception's just starting. I'm sure I'll be able to call and find a place to stay.

I made a call to Kenji, the owner of Liberate, a bar in Izumo. He had told me back in March that there was a room I could use any time I needed to.

I needed to.

He said it wasn't a problem. There was a mattress there for me to sleep on, and some of the other bar workers would take care of it. Okay. Cool. Problem solved. But now I need to get out of Matsue and back over to Izumo.

Whatever. Enjoy the reception.

What a reception it was. Over 150 people there easily, mostly Japanese, mostly apparently Nina's friends. I ran into a lot of folks I knew, from other ALTs to teachers I'd worked with in other schools to friends I hadn't seen for quite a while.

Nina's a popular lady in Shimane.

There were speeches, dances, signing, playing of songs, and the consumption of much food and drink. Pretty fun stuff. I translated a speech for Mike's mom and dad. (Really nice people, by the way. You can tell where their son gets his personality from.)

Nina and Mike did something really cool at the reception. Instead of the usual take-home gift (hikide-mono), they made a donation in each guest's name to a foundation the builds schools in Vietnam. Nina was born in Vietnam, and has organized fund-raising events and school-building trips to Vietnam while she's been over here. I wonder where she gets the energy. Anyway, very cool.

Here's a shot of me with the bride and groom when they came around to our table.

I had to get out of there right after the party, although a second party was planned. I had a train to catch.

I made a quick stop by Filaments to give Imagawa-san some CDs that I'd promised him the last time I was in town. We talked for a bit, and then it was off to the station, onto a train, and over to Izumo.

I made the rounds of a couple of bars and then went over to Liberate. I wanted to stay up for the U.S. vs. Italy World Cup match, because I'd heard it was going to be on at 1 AM.

Wrong.

4 AM.

I gave up and went to bed on that mattress in a weird cluttered room in a weird cluttered area behind the bar.

I kinda defied definition. But I was so tired and intoxicated that I didn't really care.

A Side Note On Yaegaki Shrine (Rated R)

2006-06-17T17:02:00.000+09:00

The first time I ever visited Yaegaki Shrine was back in October of 1998, right after I'd come to Shimane University as an exchange student. My friends Kazu and Satoshi told me that they wanted to take me to "the greatest shrine in Japan".

Never mind that it was 8 at night and dark outside.

"Okay guys, show me this shrine."

We drove out to the south side of town to Yaegaki Shrine. At first glance, it looked like any other shrine you can see anywhere in Japan.

Like this.

"Umm, okay. It's dark and there doesn't seem to be anything too special about this place..."

"Follow me."

We walk around the left side of the shrine to another small shrine set up there.

"See?"

I don't see. Looks just like any other...

Hold.

The.

Phone.

Oh my.

Oh my.

My oh my.

It's a fertility shrine.

Aahhh...

I spent the next ten minutes laughing my ass off.

Because, ya know, there's a bunch of..."Richards"...just...hanging out. Literally.

Places like this can be found all over Japan, most notably Tagata Shrine in Aichi Prefecture. I say "most notably" because it was the most obvious fertility shrine I've ever seen. (Click here to see some pictures from the fertility festival.) I think some places try to have a little fun with the image they present, while some places are a little more serious. I think Yaegaki Shrine tries to be a bit more on the serious side of things. But either way, people go to these shrines to pray for help in getting pregnant or for help in farming fertile crops.

Anyway, while it may not be "the greatest" shrine in Japan, Yaegaki Shrine is a pretty fun place to visit.

I do miss the shop that used to be across the street from the shrines that sold little candy souvenirs that reflected the "fertility" nature of the shrine.

Candy for both "him" and "her", if you know what I mean.

The Wedding

2006-06-17T16:30:00.000+09:00

My main reason for coming back to Shimane this weekend was that Nina and Mike, two JET friends of mine, were getting married.

Nina came to Shimane the year after I did, and Mike a year after her. I don't know when they hooked up, but they made a great couple from the first time I saw them. They decided to get married in Shimane in a full-out Shinto wedding.

After meeting my friend Jara in Izumo and cruising out to Izumo Taisha (I make sure I at least try to get out there every time I go back), I caught a train to Matsue and a bus out to Yaegaki Shrine.

The weather was stupid hot. I had gone from 9 degrees C (48 F) to 25 C (77 F) overnight. Add 30 ~ 40% humidity to the equation and you have one uncomfortable Dustin.

I'd lived in Shimane for six years, so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect, but it was still stupid hot there. I apologized to them ahead of time, saying that there was no way I was wearing a suit. A tie and a nice shirt was as far as I was willing to go. Melting away is not one of my top priorities.

I got out there at two and rested in the air-conditioned waiting room. The wedding party arrived around 2:30, and I snapped a pic of the couple and their families.

Personally, I think Mike's dad's beard rocked.

I was assigned filming duties for the ceremony, so I had to move around a lot and try and catch all of the facets of the wedding. The blessing, the prayers, the flute and taiko, the drinking of the holy sake, the wedding pledge...

It was a very nice ceremony, and a lot of people showed up for it. While only the families were allowed into the shrine itself, the rest of us were able to watch from outside. It was cool to see.

A simple ceremony in an out-of-the-way area. Nicely done, Mike and Nina. Congratulations.

I Have Arrived!

2006-06-16T23:58:00.000+09:00

So I flew into Izumo via Tokyo.

Haneda Airport was unreal. The humidity was killer. It reminded me of when I flew over in July of 2000 to start working here. I flew Business Class (the first and most likely only time I'll ever do that) and had a really relaxing flight over. The second I stepped off the plane and into the walkway to the airport, I was hit with a gust of hot, wet air. Ick. Bad memories.

(Side note: the Y2K crop of JETs were the last ones to be flown over on Business Class. I love to brag about that to newcomers. The look of sheer disgust is always priceless.)

A run across the airport to the gate to my connecting flight to Izumo left me sweaty and uncomfortable. Lord I hate humid weather.

I got into Izumo around 8. I stepped outside into the warm evening air. I heard "Dustin?" from behind me, so I turned around and saw Imagawa-san's (the guy who runs Filaments over in Matsue) wife. We talked for a couple of minutes, and then she took off for Matsue. I had to laugh, because I had the feeling that there had to be somebody I knew on that airplane.

My friend Kumi met me at the airport and drove me to Izumo. After I checked in to my room, we went out for dinner, swinging by Bamboo to say hi to the Ishibashis. The surprised look on their faces was priceless.

So Kumi and I went to a grill bar called Kiku and had dinner. The master of the place remembered who I was. He saw my buzzcut and asked if I'd been drafted and had come back to Izumo to tell everyone goodbye. I said no (thank the Lord). Dinner was good, and Kumi and I talked for a while before we headed back over to Bamboo.

While we were there, I got a nice little piece of info. Seems that Master got a hold of ten bottles of some REALLY INCREDIBLE awamori.

Awamori is distilled from rice and stored in clay pots. The longer it's stored, the richer the flavor, and the pricier it becomes. This stuff is from a kura (distillery) in Okinawa that found a barrel of awamori in their warehouse. Company records show it being there 13 years ago, but there is no record of it being made. Basically, they have no idea how old it is. And it has a nice amber hue from being stored in the barrel, which is something you never see with awamori. The kura decided to bottle it and sell it off. They got 2000 bottles of it. That's all.

This stuff is 60%. You take it is small sips. Very good, but it'll get ya quick.

I'd really enjoyed the stuff when I tried it, so I (half) jokingly asked, "What's a guy gotta do to get a hold of a bottle of that stuff?"

Master said, "Pay me what I paid, $50, and you can have one."

Hmmm. Only 2000 bottles in existence. Awamori that tastes and looks like whiskey. No idea of how old it is. Damn tasty. And I can get a bottle for $50?

No hesistation. I paid, and now I have my own bottle.

I guaran-damn-tee that this is worth every penny.

But I have to wait until I have good cause to drink it. This stuff isn't something you just kick back and drink.

As is da rigeur with a trip back to Izumo, I made a round of the bars in Daikan-cho. I ran into Kat-chan, who was out drinking with some Yotsugane teachers, and we had a good laugh about me being back. Good times.

I made sure I swung by Ken's Box and caught up with Minako and the gang.

After being out far too late going to this bar and that one, I cruised back to my hotel and went to bed.

Off To Shimane!

2006-06-16T12:24:00.000+09:00

I hopped on the 7 AM Super Hokuto and got back to Muroran with about ten minutes to spare. Out of the station, out to my car, and off to work.

IN TIME FOR THE MORNING MEETING! YEAH!

Some test explanations and a few other paperwork things. I was more than a bit out of it. Although I'm glad I didn't fall asleep on the train. I could have ended up in Hakodate.

That would have been a bad thing, seeing as it's time for me to hit the road and get out to New Chitose Airport.

I'm gettin' off of work early and gettin' the heck outta here.

My good friends Nina and Mike are gettin' hitched, and it's my duty to be there.

Plus, it gives me an excuse to go back to Shimane and see people.

It's gonna suck though. June in Shimane was never fun while I was there.

Humidity. Avoid it at all costs.

Especially if you've been living somewhere that has a noticeable LACK of humidity.

Like Muroran.

Anyway, I'm outta here!

Fun In Sapporo

2006-06-15T23:24:00.000+09:00

I'm heading back to Shimane tomorrow, and I'm goofing off in Sapporo tonight. Never mind that I have to be back in Muroran and at work by 8:30 tomorrow morning. It's all good...I hope.

Last week, I got a phone call from Sekiguchi-san, a friend of mine who lives in Hyogo Prefecture in western Honshu. He told me that a mutual friend of ours from Wakayama would be coming up to Sapporo on Thursday, and I should go up and see him.

Thursday night? I've got work Friday, and I'm flying to Shimane that evening for a wedding that weekend. Yeesh.

"We've got a hotel reserved for you. Go up and talk with him."

Wow. That was fast.

This friend of mine from Wakayama is Higashiyama-san. He is a Buddhist priest at Renge-in, a temple in the mountain temple complex of Koya-san. I'd heard that Koya-san was a REALLY cool temple complex, and when I told Sekiguchi-san that I wanted to check it out, he told me I should stop by Renge-in and talk with Higashiyama-san.

Cool guy.

Likes America. Likes to talk. Good guy all around.

He even let me stay at his temple for free when I took a road trip around the Kii Peninsula later that year.

We last saw each other when we participated in a festival on Iki Island back in the fall of 2003. So I was pretty excited to catch up with him again.

He wasn't going to get into Sapporo until late Thursday evening, but I headed out early anyway. Another Starfish High teacher was in Sapporo for a conference, so I met him at Sapporo Station and we went over to Ittetsu, the damn good ramen shop.

I feel like whenever I talk about Ittetsu, I'm re-enacting that diner sequence from Twin Peaks. "Damn good pie."

After the ramen, I putzed around Sapporo for a bit, and then made my way over to the hotel where I was going to be staying.

Royton Sapporo.

Apparently, one of the groups affiliated with Renge-in is led by the guy who built this hotel, so Higashiyama-san "made some calls" and got me a free room.

Big place.

Elevators on the side of the building, so you can see the city fall away from you as you go up to your room.

The city fell quite a ways away from me, as I was up on the 18th floor.

Vertigo, anyone?

So I headed into my room and just relaxed for a while, waiting to hear from Higashiyama-san.

Finally, around 10:30, my phone rings. It's the front desk.

"Mr. Higashiyama has arrived. Shall we connect you?"

"Please."

"Kiddo? Can you come up to the 20th floor?"

"Okay. Be right there."

So I head on up, in my room slippers, and arrive at a restaurant. It's a classy-looking place, and they take one look at me and get suspicious. Then they ask me if I'm waiting for Higashiyama-san. I say yes, after which they tell me that room slippers aren't allowed in their fine establishment.

Fair enough.

So I go back to my room and change into my sneakers.

I'm glad they didn't tell me to put on a tie.

I head on in, and there's Higashiyama-san and some older fella whose name I never caught. We sit down and enjoy an excellent meal with an even more excellent view of the city. Top floor of the hotel restaurants with big windows tend to provide just such a view.

Crab legs. Veal. Sushi. A selection of fine cheeses. Brandy. Chivas Regal. Life is sooooo good to me sometimes.

We talk about an upcoming conference in Nara this September. Higashiyama-san also tells me that if I ever have people visiting and need to get them some Sapporo lodging, just give him a call. He can "make some calls" and get a room for me any time. And not just Sapporo either. [Hint, hint, Mom and Dad.]

It's good to know people with connections.

After we finished up dinner, I said thanks to Higashiyama-san and his friend and headed back to my room.

Set my alarm for 5:20 AM.

Gotta catch a train to get back to work on time.

Dinner With A Mortician

2006-06-14T23:57:00.000+09:00

In celebration of the end of Mid-Terms, and the fact that the weather in Muroran had gone from complete bollocks to halfway decent, I went out for dinner.

You may have seen mentions of my friend Risa in these pages before. Risa is a former Starfish High student, back before Starfish High was Starfish High. She introduced me to a friend of hers who also attended Starfish High back in the day. We'd never met face to face, but we've been e-mailing each other for a couple months now.

Today consisted of administering three tests and then correcting them, so it was a fairly easy day. After a bit of mailing Risa's friend back and forth, I sent her a mail asking her if she'd like to go to dinner that evening. The reply followed soon after.

"Sure! Let's go!"

Cool.

So after work, I cruised back home, changed out of my monkey suit (slacks, shirt, and tie) into something I feel more like myself in (jeans, t-shirt, and a plaid overshirt), and gave her a call. She said she'd come and pick me up, so I told her to meet me over by the local post office.

She came and picked me up and we headed over to a nice little restaurant in Tonkeshi that I'd wanted to check out for a while now. It's a place that specializes in Japanese-style barbecue, or yakiniku.

I should add here that I was feeling a little overwhelmed. I figured it would be a laid-back dinner between a couple of friends, which is why I didn't bother trying to be too fancy. When she pulled up at the post office and picked me up, she was wearing a dress and high heels. And, my oh my (as Dave Niehaus says), she was looking very nice. I talked to a friend about this a little later, and we came to the conclusion that that kind of outfit is casual wear for ladies over here.

Either way, leave it to me to show up in jeans, a t-shirt, and a plaid overshirt. Yeesh.

Anyway, on to dinner. We got a table and placed our order, although we were a little worried, as our waiter was a trainee and didn't seem very confident in what he was doing. (He did fine.)

And we ate and drink and talked. And talked. And talked some more.

It was a lot of fun. She works at a funeral home, and we ended up talking a lot about her work. Fascinating stuff, although some of what we talked about may not have been the most appropriate content for an evening meal. Cremations. Cleaning up the ashes. Dealing with bodies that are a tad...ripe.

She likes horror movies. Zombie movies. You'd think her profession and zombies movies wouldn't mix. I take the line that it's a natural match.

We were at the restaurant for four and a half hours. Just talking, for the most part.

I haven't had that much fun in a long time.

One More Month!

2006-06-13T09:32:00.000+09:00

More mid-terms today, but WHO CARES!

I will be heading back to America in one month!

It will be my first trip back since March of 2005.

I will be home for almost forty days ("home" being the homeland...I will only be home in Cove for about ten days).

I will be in San Diego for a month, chaperoning twelve Starfish High students while they participate in an intensive language course.

I will get to go to Tijuana for an afternoon! I'm practicing my Spanish already. "Dos tequilas, por favor."

Good Mexican food. Good pizza. Good home cookin'. Seeing friends. Seeing family. Eating good food.

I am going to have to exercise my lard butt off. Fortunately, I have the free time in SD to do it. Maybe.

Anyway. One more month! America, here I come!

Mid-Terms Are Here

2006-06-12T09:24:00.000+09:00

...and in honor of the educational theme of this week, I share with you this e-mail, sent to me by my (recently hitched) sister.
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This is the message that the Pacific Palisades High School (California) staff voted unanimously to record on their school telephone answering machine.

This is the actual answering machine message for the school. This came about because they implemented a policy requiring students and parents to be responsible for their children's absences and missing homework. The school and teachers are being sued by parents who want their children's failing grades changed to passing grades - even though those children were absent 15-30 times during the semester and did not complete enough schoolwork to pass their classes. The outgoing message:

"Hello! You have reached the automated answering service of your school.
In order to assist you in connecting to the right staff member, please listen to all the options before making a selection:

* To lie about why your child is absent - Press 1
* To make excuses for why your child did not do his work- Press 2
* To complain about what we do - Press 3
* To swear at staff members - Press 4
* To ask why you didn't get information that was already enclosed in your newsletter and several flyers mailed to you - Press 5
* If you want us to raise your child - Press 6
* If you want to reach out and touch, slap or hit someone - Press 7
* To request another teacher, for the third time this year - Press 8
* To complain about bus transportation - Press 9
* To complain about school lunches - Press 0
* If you realize this is the real world and your child must be accountable and responsible for his/her own behavior, class work, homework and that it's not the teachers' fault for your child's lack of effort: Hang up and have a nice day!"
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I'm off to administer some tests now!