Paul's Experience Teaching English in Japan: October 2009

Friday, October 30, 2009

Everyday Pics

I realize my last post (and previous ones) might leave people thinking Japan is a really beautiful place and there is a 'lack of ordinary' that characterizes my everyday experience here. I don't want to leave that impression so I'm gonna try harder to take pictures of everyday things as well - things I more or less take for granted but are interesting in their own right. Here's a few pics I took lately:

My apartment on the 8th floor.

I've been learning how to cook! I actually just watched my friend Jay cook this one but I think I could do it on my own. Pork, veggies and chinese noodles - I'll find out the name later - famous in the Phillipines but I think originally from China. This meal was delicious!

Where I load the bus most mornings.

A typical bus ride to and from school.

Here comes my bus!

My desk. This is a large room shared by all the teachers and for me its probably the worst spot in the entire room. The sink you can see at the top right is used by the teachers for gargling, brushing teeth, washing, spitting and other things throughout the day that I'm used to being done in the bathroom. It can get real nasty.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Pics of Nara and Kobe

The Great Buddha Hall of Todai-ji

The Great Buddha

Kobe Port

From the ferry leaving Kobe port

Akashi Bridge

Same, from the ferry ride back

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Nara and Kobe

Last weekend my friend Jay and I went on another excursion, this time staying in Japan. On Friday night we took a bus from northern Kyushu to Osaka. We left at 11pm and arrived in the morning around 8am. We overslept our stop on the bus (Osaka), arriving in Kyoto a half an hour later. From Kyoto we took an hour long train to Nara, where we spent the day checking out a few sites.

Nara was Japan's first permanent capital, before it was moved to Kyoto. The town is full of old buildings, though many have been rebuilt since the 8th century (Nara was the capital from 710-794 AD). The most famous site in Nara and maybe in all of Japan is the Great Buddha Hall in a temple called Todai-ji. After checking it out myself, I can understand why. The Buddha itself is inside one of the largest wooden structures in the world. In addition the temple gate is guarded by two enormous, impressive looking demon statues. Then there's the Buddha. This dude is HUGE with the most calm face you've ever seen; it is a wonder to me how it was made and got moved around.

Also, knowing that Buddhism was introduced to Japan around the 7th/8th century and has been a big part of its history ever since, I had another moment of wonder as I was staring at this Buddha's large face. When Buddhism was introduced to Japan from India, moving first through China and Korea, what was it about the religion that made it resonate like it did? I mean they built this massive thing to worship, right? I had a little feeling of awe to realize that I was living in a place where this religion became hugely popular in a way Christianity did among people in the West. The cultural differences between East and West really fascinate me, and as I think about this feeling I had, I know it raises more questions for me than it gives answers.

After Nara we stayed the night in Kobe with Jay's Indonesian friend Mazy. The trio we made included an Indonesian, a Phillipino and an American - perfect for this city. Kobe is a city famous as a port for trading and cultural exchange, like Yokohama and Nagasaki. It's also famous for being affected by the large earthquake that hit Japan in 1995. And of course there is the famous kobe beef (Kobe Gyuu) that comes from there. On Sunday we took a cable car up a hill to get a nice view of the city and the port. In the evening we took a ferry to a nearby island and passed beneath Akashi bridge, which connects Kobe to this island. We saw a beautiful sunset from the ferry. The weather was beautiful for us all weekend - on and off sunny/cloudy with a nice autumn breeze blowing crisp air. We took off on Monday morning by bus and arrived back in Kitakyushu in the evening. This was a great, relatively cheap weekend adventure for us and I'm happy I went. A Big Thanks to Mazy our guide and host in Kobe.

Stay tuned for pics!

Sunday, October 4, 2009

A Trip to Korea (Kankoku no Ryoko)

This year a string of three national holidays in September fell on Monday-Wed., leaving a five day holiday for us in Japan to enjoy. These holidays, which include 'respect for the aged day,' 'children's day' and 'green day' are informally called 'Silver Week.' For this year's Silver Week, my friend Jay and I went to Korea - specifically Seoul, Incheon and Busan for 4 days. Here are some recollections:

The ferry ride from Fukuoka to Busan was a puke party. It was a very windy morning and the ocean was extremely choppy. The ferry we took was a 'jet-ferry,' which makes it from Japan to Korea in about 3 hours; this is the fastest ferry you can take from Japan to Korea. It was also, because of the weather, the most uncomfortable and sickening boat ride I've ever had. The driver weaved left and right to avoid large waves and, of the ones he couldn't avoid the ferry just slammed into them. A few times these slammings caused passengers and stewardesses walking in the aisles to be thrown against a seat, probably leaving them sore the next morning. As for me and a lot of others the weavings, slammings, and up and down motion of the ferry on the water forced us to breathe deeply to keep from heaving. Many did heave, and Jay and I weren't able to laugh about it until much, much later.

After arriving in Busan, we took Korea's fastest train, the KTX, up to Seoul. In Seoul we stayed in Itaewon, a place famous for its cosmopolitanism and diversity; it was remarkable to see and hear all the diverse people banter about on Saturday night, when stalls line the sidewalks and a lot of people are out late. We saw people from Africa, the Phillipines, America, England, India and elsewhere, and even more diversity in the restaurants. Though we stayed in Itaewon, we did more exploring elsewhere in Seoul. And we were fortunate to have Jay's friend Beck, a Korean and born and raised Seoulite, show us around the city.

Some of my best memories of the trip were in the trendy shopping district of Myeongdong - not of shopping but of some great meals we had there. On the first night Beck took us to a dakgalbi (pan-fried chicken) restarant. This meal was probably my favorite, and it made me sweat quite a bit. The next night Beck took us to a korean barbeque restaurant that was also quite a feast. The restaurant was filled with Japanese tourists, taking advantage of a meal that costs about $9-15 in Korea and around $35-50 in Japan.

Our bleakest day was in Incheon, a port city an hour and half train ride from Itaewon. Jay and I wanted to check out the Chinatown there and spend a day exploring outside of Seoul. Unfortunately it rained pretty hard on us in the morning and was real gray and cloudy in the afternoon and evening. Though nice weather would have helped a great deal, Chinatown was deserted, and the small seaside village we saw (Wolmido) looked like a broken down circus town. Also going there on a Monday wasn't a good idea, but I think after that trip I needn't ever go back to Incheon.

On our last day in Korea we spent some time in Busan, a port city on the southeastern edge of the peninsula. My highlight in Busan was walking through a market and gazing at all the interesting food and items for sale. Kimchee was in abundance, as were fish, veggies and cheap clothes and nicknacks. In one stall we saw a man scraping what looked like caterpillars or worms from twigs into a large wooden crate. The crate was full of these wriggling grey worms, which I guess were being sold as food? We also saw two different beach spots in Busan. The novelty of seeing so much street food and food stalls as part of the regular marketplace in Korea (not nearly as common in Japan) came alive for us near the beach. We saw plenty of these food stalls as we walked towards a nice beach spot called Haeundae, making our choice for dinner very difficult.

This trip to Korea showed us some real extremes, going from a neon shopping area filled with trendsetters in Seoul to the grittier places and people of Busan. If I return to Korea, which I really want to do, I would like to see Gwangju, the old capital of Korea, filled with temples, burial mounds, a large pagoda and an old star-gazing tower - and also Jeju, the island south of Korea with volcanic terrain, beach and countryside landscapes and a different lifestyle and culture from mainland Korea.