SUMO!!

Its been some time since I've written anything. Life has been flying by as usual. Two weekends ago I drove with a few friends up to Fukuoka (about 31/2 hours by car), on the northern tip of Kyushu. Its the biggest city on the island of Kyushu, and pretty modern and chic. We had bought tickets to see the final day of the Kyushu Basho, the annual professional sumo tournament that comes to Fukuoka. This past weekend there was a big cabin party organized by one of my friends, and I played in two shows with RENS on Sunday.

When we arrived in Fukuoka late Saturday morning, I met up with a guy who I had found by searching on the Internet for Capoeira in Fukuoka. I had assumed there would be a decent capoeira scene there due to the size of city and supposed Brazillian community, but turns out this guy has the only group and its really small (about 6 ppl!). I had planned to buy a berimbau (bow instrument that accompanies capoiera) from him, but the one he had wasn't quite what I was looking for. I did find out however that this guy's friend will be coming back to Kagoshima in April and starting up classes.. so I am really excited for that!

The weather on the weekend was rainy most of the time, so our exploring was limited. On Saturday night we hit the town and had dinner at an Indian restaurant. After we met up with my friends Jane and Evania from Winnipeg who have been out here teaching for the past year. It was great catching up with them. Later we ended up at some dance club filled with foreigners, which was pretty weird, since that is not so common around my place (considering I'm the only foreigner in my town).

On Sunday we went to COSTCO!! I cannot describe in words how great it is walking into a familiar store with all the foods from home... they had everything we have back in Winnipeg! (with the addition of wine and sushi!) I nearly fainted at the sight of bagels. After the four of us squeezed as much as humanly possible into my car. We headed over to the sumo match. Man those guys are huge! Despite their super-human size, they are really fast and of course strong. Its a really interesting sport, and I had no idea as to the rules before I went. Luckily they were prepared for foreigners and gave us an english guide to sumo as we entered the building. Sumo is filled with ancient rituals, which makes each match about 10 minutes even though the actual bout is usually 10-20 seconds.

I really want to go back to Fukuoka sometime and explore the city... the city gets a lot of international music acts and has a pretty big arts scene. It also has an indoor snowboarding/ski hill and an amusement park...most of all I want to go back to fantasy land (aka Costco).

First RENS show

Song titles: Once again, above. Terekakushi no Proresuwaza below.

Yesterday was my first show with RENS, a band from Makurazaki, a city near my town. We played two shows yesterday, the first at an event for a special needs home, and the second at an event outside of an art gallery. The band members are all 39 years old and all went to the same elementary and junior high together back in the day. It was really fun playing with them... in my first real show! We are practicing for a big show happening on Christmas eve, but I think there are a few shows before then.

As for the rest of the weekend, friday was a holiday and there as a big festival happening in the Kagoshima City. I got on a dancing squad to parade through the streets ad-libbing some sort of japanese dance... and getting served free shochu (sweet potato alcohol) along the way!

On friday night we ended up at a little music festival happening in the central park (don't let the name fool you, its about the size of a soccer field) with all kinds of dj's and bands playing. A highlight was a band from Amami Oshima island, a little island south of here. Ispired by all the great music, we headed down to rock out at a karaoke place.

Saturday night, ended up taking er easy and going to a movie, the first since I've been here.. at $20 per ticket you can guess why.. mind you i did enjoy some edamame during the movie which was certainly a first!

Some university students who were on our dancing squad

Each group has matching outfits and a dance routine.. some are better than others.. the girls below were amazing! we were something else...

Our group... finally done with dancing... it was about an hour and a half! The girl in the purple was the amazing singer from AMAMJAUBB, the band from Amami Oshima Island. The first show on Sunday, at a festival for a special needs home.

Weekend update

Well... it was another wonderful (and tasty) weekend here in beautiful Southern Japan. This weekend's action sports consisted of a paddle around lake Ikeda with my good bud Ben and a speedboat ride.

Despite some early setbacks trying to figure out how to build the kayak... it comes in a bag and fits in the trunk... yeah its an overpopulated island alright!... there's just no room for a solid state boat... luckily we had an obachan (grandmother) staring at us for the entire build which gave us some inspiration to actually get this thing floating... we could tell that she was really excited and kept on laughing and yelling something in kagoshima dialect that i could not quite make out. The yak as I will call her hence forth was borrowed from my good friend Sunada-san and he had given me a quick lesson on yak building the night before... turns out that its missing a few pieces, nevertheless it floated!

The day was beautiful and we even took some time out for some swan dives off the rocks along the side. Water temp was perfect and I'm happy that I was not eaten by the giant eels... oh yeah, no one really swims in this lake because of the giant eels and rumoured loch ness type monster who lives in the lake... the giant eels can be up to 10 feet long!

Later in the day we were invited out for some relaxing time on a barge (see pics). This man named Aki (who will further be called the godfather) has a barge where he throws parties in the summer, and a speed and sailboat for cruizin up and down the coast. This guy is quite the character... he also runs a private kindergarten. The afternoon on the ocean was a good ol time. We went for a spin in the speed boat... and got to drive through this awsome rock (see pic). The temperature here in Kagoshima is still around 28 degrees during the day cooler at night so I'm lovin it.

That night, the girls who live in Ibusiki (a city near my town) were throwing a Canadian Thanksgiving party at the Godfathers giant cabin. The food was amazing! complete with tofurkey and 12 or so pumpkin pies! some of the godfather's friends were in attendance too which added a little something to the festivities.

Sunada-san and his wacky yak in my living room

taking break on the lake

The yakkers looking on Really, who owns a party barge?

Da barge

The Godfather and some pirates, luckily we were not the target of the birds overhead.. but the next group was not so fortunate and there was a direct hit on one lady... oh yeah... why do you think the rock is white?

A joyful party guest and the Godfather entertaining the crowd

Hiking in Kirishima Park

This past weekend Lucky and I went exploring in Kirishima Park. We didn't know where we were going to stay, but we packed up her car Saturday morning in search of mountains, hot springs, and adventure.

Kirishima Park turned out to be one of my favourite places thus far and I'm already planning a trip back there.... especially since its not too far away!

We ended up finding some huge waterfalls, an amazing old Temple, some bright blue crater lakes, a beautiful campground, and even some wildlife... yes.. apparently japan has a little.

We ended up staying in a small cabin at one of the campsites rather than tenting... it was actually a lot colder than I had expected... it was quite high in the mountains. We ended up stumbling upon an outdoor skating rink where you can rent rollerblades in the summer and ice skates in the winter... I think one of the only places that gets cold enough to make ice in these parts...

It was a long weekend so we were able to do three days of hiking and found some beautiful places. The whole area is volcanic so it is mountainous, lush, and somewhat like the surface of the moon. There are warnings not to explore too much on your own as you may find it a little hot under-foot. You can see steam spewing from the rocks as you drive around the area, and there are numerous onsens (Japanese hot spring bath houses) around the park.

We saw quite a few deer.. which at first we though strange to be so comfortable in close proximity to humans, until we saw everyone feeding them at the sides of the road...

The Kirishima Shrine was a beautiful temple, and the first big temple I've visited in Japan. It was incredibly beautiful and I think about 300 years old. There was this spectacular gigantic tree near the temple that is 800 years old.. an amazing sight.

The trees in the park were starting to change colour, as autmn is in full effect. I would like to go back in a couple weeks when all the colours have changed.

Here's some choice pics:

First Day in Kindergarten!

Last Monday was my first day at Ei-Kindergarten. What a great time.. the kids are soooo much fun... and pretty damn exhausting too. We played with bubbles, sang some japanese and english songs, had lunch, and played some soccer.. all in all a great day. Here's a few pics...

Playing with bubbles never gets old

Kids on lunch duty ... all schools have special "lunch helper outfits"

Josh vs. the extinct volcano

This past weekend a big gai-jin crew and myself tackled Mount Kaimon with great success. We got off to a late start but made it down in time before it was dark. It was a wonderful day and the weather was great. Mt. Kaimon is only a 15 min drive from my house and I can always see it from anywhere in town... so climbing it has been on my mind... it took us about 2 hours each way.

Saturday night all the folks that came down for the climb stay/partied at my house.... we checked out the local izakaya (japanese bar/pub type place) for a bit and a few new local japanese friends came by too.

Sunday morning it was nice and hot so we all went down to the beach for a bit... sooo nice to swim on October 1st!

The crew...

My town off in the distance... that stretch of coast is my beach..

Lucky and I
Lucky, Marta, Casey, and Harry

Relaxo time after the hike..

A week at the Kanoya Asia Pacific Intercultural Centre

30 new English teachers spent a week at the KAPIC centre on Lake Osumi for Japanese culture and language training. It was a great week. We had language classes in the mornings and a cultural activity in the afternoon. There was also a wonderful Asian museum on the grounds which had all sorts of instruments which can be tried and traditional outfits that can be worn. The centre is on a beautiful lake. Not a bad little business trip!


Lucky peeking through her flowers at flower arranging. The traditional Japanese tea ceremony.
Zoe and me.

Homestay Weekend

Back in early Septemer, I had a wonderful homestay for a weekend with the Nakano family. The weekend started with a cooking class for all the participants and their homestay families. We made some delicious sushi cake, somen noodles, and some other things which I can't remember the names of now.
The Nakano family took me around to some places around Kanoya, the city that they live in, including this beautiful waterfall, a rose garden, and an airplane museum (the dad is an airplane mechanic in the Japanese Self Defense Force).

On the Saturday night, the kids were in the local sumo competition which I had a lot of fun watching. All the kids in the community battle sumo style against other kids their own age.
Me and the family.

The Nakano family invited over some of their relatives on saturday night to meet me. They were all super nice. The Nakano family has a beautiful home and treated me like royalty. I got first use of the bath water (in japan, the bath is filled once with hot water and everyone soaks in it... after a good washing before getting in.

The homestay was a great experience, and I hope to go back and visit with the family some more another time.