Hey Y'All

Just thought I would let everyone know that we just uploaded a bunch of new photos to our Smugmug page. Stop on by and see the pictures that detail the things that I have been blogging about. All of the best photos from the Steam Locomotive Museum, Tenbin Matsuri, Shimogamo Book Fair, and the Obon Holiday are now online and ready for your viewing. Use the link on the right side of the page. Enjoy!!

Ahhh!!! Bureaucracy

I love the smell of paperwork in the morning. Er... mid-afternoon. Last month we went and filed the forms to get an extension on our visas. That all went fine and dandy like sour candy. If you need a refresher on how our day went check the archives. A couple of days ago we got the postcard from the immigration bureau stating that out visa was ready and that we were required to present ourselves at the immigration office with our passports, the postcard, and a revenue stamp (like a postage stamp showing that we payed the proper fees). I came home at lunch and we jumped on a train to the capital city of Otsu, which is about half an hour away by train.

We made it to Otsu and realized we could not remember which floor of the building the office was on. The sign in the lobby was all in Japanese making it next to impossible to read. For us at least. So we had to take care of it the old fashioned way. We pushed the button for floor two and proceeded to check each floor for the office we needed. When we finally got to the fifth floor the elevator door closed before Jenny and Logan could get off and they went off to the sixth floor while I found the office on the fifth floor. Jenny and Logan waited for me to join them one floor above me while I waited for them to return to the fifth floor. Well they finally came back down and Logan told Jenny that she should not push any more buttons in the elevator. We walked down the hall to the immigration office. We waited while they found the proper papers to place into our passports.

When they did get it all taken care of we were then told that we would have to return to Omihachiman and go to city hall and have our alien registration card altered to reflect the new visa number. On the walk, in the blazing sun and oppressive heat, we joked that we would probably be told to return to Otsu so that they could verify that the Gaijin Card had been changed. Which lead to the speculation that we would have to go back to city hall to verify the verification. Well in the end we got the ID card changed and updated with little difficulty, and we did not even have to have it verified. Which is good. Now our visa is extended for another year.

Obon Holiday

Last night marked the end of the Bon holiday here in Japan. Obon is one of the two major holidays here in Japan. It is the holiday where people pay respect to their ancestors. There are special rituals that are performed and rites that are followed. It is a very special holiday for the veneration of the dead. Most Japanese will travel to their hometown to be with family and to tend the graves of their ancestors, offer special offerings to the dead, and to pay their respects. Obon and New Years are the two times a year that travel in Japan peaks, trains become very full, hotels sell out, and traveling can be difficult.

This holiday was also one that we were aware of before we came here to Japan. We had watched a documentary on PBS about Japan that highlighted the Obon celebration in Kyoto. After seeing that program we were determined to see the sights for our selves. We did our research as to where to go to see the sights that we wanted to see. And we set off to a whole new part of town. Our destination this time was a bridge over the Hozu River. On the river that evening would be placed lanterns that are inscribed with the name of a family member that has passed on. The light in the lantern is supposed to guide the soul of the deceased back to the land of the dead. The lantern floats down the river and guides the spirit back to its resting place.

We were also there to see the fire on the mountain. On the side of six mountains around Kyoto there are huge bonfires that are lit. The fires take the shape of different designs. We were in a location to see the fire that takes the form of a tori gate. There are others as well, two are the kanji for big, one looks like a ship, and there are two that together spell out the words for Buddhist law. I originally wanted to see one of the mountains that said big, but there was not enough time to go everywhere in one night. And we were able to see the tori gate fire from the same place as the lanterns.

We were very excited to see this. What we were not excited about were the crowds of people who were also very excited to see the event. Now for a family who lead a fairly boring life in America crowds used to be a big deal for us. We would time shopping to avoid crowds. And shopping on the day after Thanksgiving, well we never even thought about it. I must admit that we are doing much better at dealing with crowds of people, because well we have to. Everywhere we go and everything that we do we basically deal with crowds. But for some reason the crowd last night seemed to be offensive. I know that offensive might be too harsh a word but last night was very trying of my patience. I was after some nice pictures of the lantern that we would be able to share with you. And it seemed that every time I got a good shot framed up a person would step right into my shot. At one point I had focused in on the tori gate that was burning on the mountain and an old woman stood up right in front of my lens completely blocking my shot. She even ignored all of my excuse mes, sumimasens, and gruff clearing of my throat noises that I made. I had to find a new vantage point from which to shoot.

All in all, I must admit that we were a little let down. We were expecting more from this one. It was nice to see, and it will be something that I hope that I never forget, but still it was a bit of a let down. Just a tiny bit disappointment. I did manage to get a few beautiful shots of the lanterns, and one or two of the fire on the side of the mountain. But the actual holiday did not really live up to all the hype.

BBQ!!! or Salem Gets a Hair Trim

Last night was the welcome to Japan Bar-B-Que for all the new English teachers here in the area. A Gaijin Heights bar-b-que is an event in itself. Fun is had from early evening until the wee hours of the night. At least until the last train leaves Omihachiman, or later for the people who miss that train. Last night we dragged the grills out about six in the evening and lit the charcoal so that the coals would be hot around seven or so. The charcoal here is a bit different. (I know; I say those words a lot, but it never fails to amaze me how even the little details tend to be different here.) Charcoal is not in a bag, it comes in a box. And it is not in uniform little briquettes; it actually looks like the wood that it was made from. Lighter fluid is not a liquid, but a gel. And the best part about grilling here is that it pretty much can be a never ending process. You start by getting the coals nice and hot and then you start to cook small pieces of vegetables and meat, then you pretty much eat right off the grill. When the grill is empty you put on more food and continue until you are full. And all of the food is accompanied by lots of beer.

While the coals were heating up a guys named Salem, who lives a couple of cities to the south of here, was talking about how he wanted to cut his hair because it was so hot. So I volunteered to give him a quick buzz with the clippers. He took me up on my gracious offer and I went and grabbed the clippers and proceeded to shear him like a sheep. I had a great time cutting off his hair for him. And with temperatures hovering in the upper nineties with high humidity I know that his head will be much cooler. I think that the funniest part of the whole process was when Salem asked Logan what should he do with all of the hair that was trimmed off his head. Logan said that he should give it to Mr. Bryan. Now Bryan recently, much to his wife's dismay, shaved off his already thinning hair. Bryan received a lot of good natured ribbing about his lack of hair, and after shaving his head people still have much fun with him. It was well received when Logan said that Mr. Salem should give his hair to Mr. Bryan.

We had a great night. Our chicken kabobs were delicious. We even managed to bring out the marshmallow that we found at the foreign foods market and make s'mores around the grill. Lots of fun. We retired early. Jenny and Logan about 9:00 and me closer to 10:00, but the party went on until the wee hours.

Hot, Hot Day and Books

Yesterday we headed off to Kyoto. Yes; again. It does seem that we spend quite a bit of our lives in that city. We have been going there about once a week or so over the past month. But with the one year count down clicking away the days, we must be sure to see all the beautiful sights, and do all the exciting things that we want to do, or risk losing the opportunity forever. Yesterday was a big book fair. Lots of merchants were at the shrine where we went and wandered through the water selling their used books. It was a very hot day. I think that the thermometer may have climbed into the upper nineties with very high humidity. But we wandered back to the shrine. We did not get lost this time. We simply went back the opposite way that we went home last time. Smart, eh? We looked around at all the books for a while. Yes I will admit that We did purchase a few books while we were there. I found what appears to be an old script for a play, and we found some children's books. Then we headed north looking for some lunch. We decided not to go to the Falafel Garden again, this time we were off to find a department store. We figured we could wander around in air conditioned delight for a while before heading home. Well the department store ended up being more like the, "Dirt Mall." It was rather old and not much different than what we have here in Omihachiman. We did manage to find some food to eat for lunch. Logan was more into eating ice cream than his food. Jenny and I split a caramel sundae. The best part was the cornflakes that they put on the sundae as a topping. After lunch it was back to Kyoto station for some more wandering around in the climate controlled bliss. We spent time looking around the 12 floor department store that is next to the station. We got home kinda late and ate dinner and pretty much got ready for bed.

Tenbin Matsuri

I am not sure if this will be a welcome revelation or not but Sunday contained another first for me. Sunday was the day of the Tenbin Matsuri Festival here in Omihachiman. The festivities began around noon. We left the house, Me, Jenny, Logan and Mark, around 11:30 or so. It was a five minute walk from our apartment to the street where the street where the festivities were taking place. But before we went to watch the taiko drummers from my school and the other performers we made a pit stop at the local 7-11. Here is where we get to the first. Jenny got a bottle of water, Logan got a bottle of frozen sports drink and I got a beer. You must understand that here in Japan it is perfectly acceptable to walk down the street drinking a can of beer. So I did. I am pretty sure that it was my first time drinking a beer that early in the day. It was a lot of fun though.

The festival itself was pretty small. The taiko club from my school performed first thing in the morning. Next there was a karate demonstration from the local dojo. It was fun watching all the little kids run through their forms. the cool part was when the teachers showed off their abilities. They broke boards, baseball bats, and one guy even broke a cinder block with his fist. Then there was a junior high school brass band. The local Self Defense Force Brass Band also played. more Beer. Food. And most important; many, many students and teachers from school telling Logan how cute he is. The downtown part of the festival broke up around four in the afternoon. So we headed on home after making plans with our neighbors to all head off together later in the evening to watch the fireworks.

We ran over to the camera shop to purchase a tripod for our camera. I wanted to try and take pictures of the fireworks later in the evening. Then we headed home for some dinner. About 7:00 in the evening we started to gather up the neighbors to walk out near my school to catch a glimpse of the fireworks. Logan took a crazy stroller ride thanks to Miss. Diana. She pushed him all around, in circles and loop the loops, backward and forward. Those two always manage to have fun together. We walked the twenty minutes or so out to my school so that we would have a nice view over the rice fields. On the way I also managed another first. One thing that Jenny and I have always been wary of is falling into the rain gutters that run along the side of the streets here. The are about two feet deep and sometimes covered, and sometimes not. Well as it happens, in the dark of the night I managed to fall into one of the storm drains. I was walking along when all of a sudden the ground under my left foot just was not there. I fell to the ground. Not hurt, but a bit wounded in the pride. I felt awkward and silly. And my shin hurt a little bit from the scrape that ran a good length of the bottom half of my leg. But we managed to find a nice place to set down our tarps and watch the fireworks. I even managed to get a couple of great photos of the fireworks thanks to my new tripod. I was even able to snap a shot of the one that looked like a smiley face. It was a fun day and a great way to cap off a wonderful weekend.


花火
はなび
hanabi
(firework)

Chugga-Chugga, Choo-Choo

We have had another busy weekend here in Japan. It has been really hot here, but that has not stopped us from getting out and exploring all that this great country has to offer. Saturday we went to a museum that we have been wanting to take Logan to for a while now, The Kyoto Steam Locomotive Train Museum. Logan really loves to ride trains, he loves to play with his trains, and he also loves Thomas the Tank Engine. We thought that this would make the trip to a train museum a perfect fit for him. And we were correct. We rode the train down to Kyoto. Then it was a twenty minute walk from the station to the museum. The museum was a a bit tricky to find, but not nearly as difficult to find as our trip last weekend. We found the museum and went in. The museum really consisted of about fifteen old steam locomotives. It was really kinda neat to see and in some cases climb aboard and play engineer. The trains were all really neat and Logan had a great time. I think that his favorite part was the ride we took. We were able to take a ten minute trip on a real steam train. Logan was very excited and decided that we were going to ride in Annie. Now if you don't already know, Annie is the passenger car that is pulled by Thomas on his branch line. I will say that I am pretty sure that the sound of a real steam train's whistle came as quite a shock to Logan. As he is used to the quiet and musical, "peep-peep" from the Thomas videos. We really did have a nice morning at the museum.

Then it was off to do some shopping in the big city. I wanted to visit an outdoor sporting goods store that I had just read about, and I wanted to visit a camera shop to see if I could get a bargain on a tripod for our camera. I managed to find a new hat at the hiking shop, but the tripod was more expensive in the big city than at our little shop here in town. Next we decided to get some lunch. We decided on an Indian restaurant. We were very disappointed when we got there and they were closed. So we went to a different pace and had beef-bowls. Well to be truthful, I had an eel and beef bowl, logan had a beef bowl, and Jenny had a piece of salmon, some soup and a bowl of rice. I never thought that I would eat eel, much less say that I thought that it was rather delicious, but I have to admit that it is. Then we wandered around the shopping district for a while, and finally headed home. We made it home after a quick pit stop at Mickey D's for a McFlurry and a cheeseburger; but mostly to stay out of the rain that freakishly began to pour the moment we left the train station. It was a busy day, but that seems to have become our life in these past few months. It is quite a departure from our old life where hangin' out around the house was the status quo.