Lost in Ogawa

August 6th 1945, 8:15A.M., a day that forever changed Hiroshima, Japan……..As an American, if you didn’t know that day as the day the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Japan, SHAME on YOU!! Ok, actually I didn’t know either prior to my visit to Hiroshima. If you asked me what year War World II ended, there’s a possibility I might get that wrong too! If I wanted to know about history and especially about War World II, all I have to do is ask my history major roommate from college or have him look it up! Anyway, it was rather suiting that my first visit to Hiroshima coincided with the 60th year anniversary of the bomb dropping. It would be pretty cool to tell my kids one day that I was in Hiroshima 60 years later since the incident took place… or maybe not! Anyway, after a year in Japan, my ability to recognize some Kanji (Chinese characters) has allowed me to understand that Hiroshima in Japanese means wide or large (hiro) island (shima). It’s not an island per say but a very wide and flat piece of land with many canals or rivers running through it. Being in Hiroshima was a little surreal for me because I never knew if I would make a trip out to Hiroshima. Geographically, it is quite far from Tokyo or from where I live in Saitama for that matter. So my friends and I flew there! It still took about 1.5 hrs., but compared to the Shinkasen(bullet train), which is about 3 hrs., and for about the same fare, the plane was the best choice. First thing we saw in Hiroshima was the famous “Atomic Dome.” This is the only building left in the original condition after the bombing devastated and wiped out Hiroshima city. Hiroshima today is considered a new city with relatively new buildings. The condition of the building is left there as a memorial but also to remind the world never to repeat this atrocity ever again. The building is in ruins with bricks on the ground but some metal infrastructure has been placed inside to prevent the complete crumbling of the building. I didn’t know what to feel when I first saw the dome. I was still full of excitement to be in Hiroshima and then suddenly to see something that is suppose to remind you of great sadness; it just didn’t come right away. It seems like I needed a switch to turn off happiness and a switch to turn on serious mode. Taking picture with the dome was awkward. I usually smile in my pictures but somehow smiling in front of the dome seems unrespectful. Next we visited the nearby memorial peace museum with history and artifacts found after the aftermath. Some things were pretty gruesome. There were pictures of how the city looked and how the people looked and I’m sure you can all imagine what they would look like or actually have seen some footages or images from textbooks, magazines, or documentaries. Seeing actual items found and left behind were the things that interested me the most. I tried to imagine and visualize the people that might have owned these items. Many charred school uniforms and school bags were also donated to the museum by parents who lost their child. There were also locks of hair that the parents cut off from their child after they died. One exhibit was gruesome but also amazing. It was a complete nail with skin attached to it that was easily pealed off from the child’s hand. The coolest item I saw was a watch that stopped exactly at 8:15AM. The museum did educate me more about the incident at Hiroshima and why the bomb was dropped there. At that time scientist including Albert Einstein who had helped created the bomb did not know what consequences the bomb would have on human beings and it was the first time in human history that an atomic bomb was used on humans. Did you know that?!!

The next day, we visited a nearby island called “Miyajima.” It was a nice ferry ride to the island and as we approached the island, I saw something that I always associated with Hiroshima. It was the giant red “Torii” gate in the waters. If you take a look at my pics, you’ll know what I’m talking about. This gate is actually a gate to a shrine called “Itsukushima jinja.” It is a beautiful shrine built right by the water. When it is high tide, water runs underneath the shrine. According to what I read, Miyajima is a sacred place to ancient Japanese people. Today, it’s just a tourist attraction! There are deers all over the island and you can buy deer biscuits to feed them so they’re not afraid of humans at all. We climbed the mountain at Miyajima and the view from the top was gorgeous with the help of good weather. Finally on the third and final day, we visited Hiroshima castle. The castle was cool and all but not too impressive. Maybe it’s the fact that I’ve seen a castle elsewhere in Japan before and they all look the same or the fact it’s not really the “actual” castle when it was first built but just a replica because obviously, the castle was also wiped out due to the A-Bomb.

Overall it was a fun and educational trip concerning both America and Japan. I’m very fortunate to have this opportunity to visit Hiroshima. Most of my Japanese friends from the Tokyo region have not even been to Hiroshima themselves either. Hiroshima city definitely feels very different to Tokyo. I made the analogy that Hiroshima to Tokyo is like the San Francisco to Los Angeles. Hiroshima is more relaxed and calm and it has street cars! I don’t know if I’ll ever get another chance to go to Hiroshima but I recommend that anybody that stops by Japan to try and visit Hiroshima if you can. Once I got back to Saitama and back to school on Monday morning, instead of asking me what I saw at Hiroshima, the Japanese teachers asked me, “What did you eat at Hiroshima?”

Pictures
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonykao0627/album?.dir=4e76&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

NFL in Tokyo? God, I miss football! It’s been one year since I watched an NFL game. Well….that’s not true, I did download last years SuperBowl from the internet! Good old internet! I was walking in Tokyo one day, and I randomly came across a poster that advertised NFL in Tokyo called the “American Bowl.” For a moment, I was stunned because I was thinking to myself, NFL? Japan? Really?!! It was the Indianapolis Colts vs. the Atlanta Falcons. These were the two teams that were runner ups to the SuperBowl last year. I actually didn’t realize this until much later on. Anyway, the poster featured star quarterbacks Peyton Manning for the Colts and Michael Vick for the Falcons, both whom I would love to see in action. Believe it not, I have never seen a LIVE NFL game before in my life. I remember myself starting to watch NFL football as early as when I was in Junior High over ten years ago?! And with no professional team in LA now, my chances of seeing a NFL game was even lower. I was dead set on seeing this game. I thought, “NFL in Tokyo? When am I going to get another chance to watch professional American Football in Japan?(well, maybe next year if I’m still living in Japan!)” As I researched prices and availabilities for the seats in Tokyo Dome where they plan to hold the match, I began asking friends who would be interested in going with me. I knew right away my Japanese friends wouldn’t be interested but when I started asking my fellow American friends, I was surprised nobody was as enthusiastic as I was or showed interested in going. In fact at the end, I found nobody to go with and I went by MYSELF!! I really didn’t mind at all. I was just so thrilled that I was going to see a NFL game!

Prior to the game outside the Dome, representative cheerleaders from both teams were signing autographs. Unfortunately, I got there at the end of the autograph session so I didn’t have the chance to get any signatures. I did get some pictures of them but it wouldn’t it be more cool if I had picture taken with them? This is where a friend would come in handy and take a picture FOR me. I was expecting to see only guys lining up for the autographs but there were plenty of Japanese women as well. Actually, I think these women were girlfriends or wives of the Japanese men! Maybe they’re there to keep the guys from drooling too much. Among the cheerleaders, there was one Asian girl that seems to be everybody’s favorite cheerleader. I don’t know if she’s Japanese but she got a lot of attention from the attending fans. She also got a lot of coverage on the Jumbo Tron in the Dome.

I was SO excited waiting for the game to start I almost pissed my pants!! Not literally of course, haha. As I expected, it was not a sellout crowd but there were still a good amount of people that attended. I didn’t even think the Japanese would even have interest in watching football but I was wrong. And of course, there were plenty of foreigners wherever I looked. I had a good view of the whole field but I couldn’t see any players in detail. I was only able to make out the player’s jersey number if I squint hard enough. I was able to pinpoint Manning and Vick who were the only two players I wanted to watch closely. As the first kickoff began, my adrenaline was at its ultimate high, I think I was screaming like a maniac throughout the game, yelling things like, “sack him! SACK HIM!!” or “GET his ASS, GET HIM!” Fortunately the seats around me were unoccupied. Every time a great play was taking place, I would stand up and cheer but then I would look around and see myself and other foreigners be the only people standing. When a bad play or somebody gets hit hard, I would “Boo” and “Awww” but I wouldn’t hear a peep from my Japanese neighbors. Once in awhile, I would hear the Japanese couple behind me say “sugoi ne (that’s wonderful/cool isn’t it).” They must think I’m weird when I put both my arms straight up into the air every time a field goal is made! I’m sure the Japanese are equally excited as I am if they were watching a football, I mean SOCCER game. It was an awesome game overall. I wish they would play Manning, Vick and other starters longer than one quarter! The Falcons were the winner and it was a close game. The Colts lost by a touchdown and it came down to 4th and 10 as the last play. The MVP for the Falcons received a pair of katana, or Japanese sword (you know the thing that Morpheus used in the Matrix) in place of a trophy, that was interesting. I enjoyed the experience immensely especially being reacquainted again with the hard hitting sounds of football. Boy, do I miss the violence haha! The last thing I saw on the Jumbo Tron before I left Tokyo Dome was “Winng Team, Atlanta Falcons.” Oh yeah, one last thing, only girls sold beer in the dome. They wore a uniform advertising the brand of the beer and carried a keg on their back with a portable dispenser. Now THAT was cool!
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“Oh my god I can’t believe, I’ve never been this far away from home!” This line is repeating over and over in my head and I can’t seem to get it out! This past weekend, I spent 3 days with some of my ALT friends at a music/rock and roll festival in Nigata Prefecture (2-3 hr. north of where I live). The festival is known as “FujiRock” or as you would say it in Japanese, “FujiRocku!” Supposedly, this is the largest music festival in Japan held once a year. The festival started on Friday and lasted until Sunday but we actually made our way there Thursday afternoon and got back Monday afternoon so it turned out to be almost a 5 day ordeal. Of course I had to take Friday and Monday off from work but was it worth it? HELL YEAH!! I don’t know and listen much to Rock and Roll music (or as I like to call it “Angry Music!”) I wasn’t planning on attending this event at all. Given the fact that the 3 day festival pass cost the same amount as one month’s rent, it did not appeal to me at all. However, my neighbor, fellow ALT friend and a HUGE music feign was all too thrilled for this upcoming festival. I think he started talking about it back in April! When we approached July and the semester finished for summer vacation, he was literally bouncing off the wall waiting for FujiRock to come. The last couple of months, we’ve been hanging out more and more, just chilling, having some beer while listening to tunes. Most of the tunes he played I really didn’t know at all but at some point, some songs started to grow on me. After nights of drinking, listening to music and convincing me to go, I finally decided to do it. The decision came down not because how much I love the music or the artist/band that was going to be there but the experience of going to a 3 day rock n roll festival with my English speaking friends in Japan. In addition, it was 3 days of music and staying in a tent we bring ourselves!

So what made this festival so special for foreigners like myself and others in Japan was that the bands that came were mainly bands from the States and the UK and these bands were top named bands that has already made it big! I’m about to tell you who they are and I still can’t believe I saw them! I wasn’t all that thrilled at first when I saw who was coming considering I don’t listen to their music much or only know a few of their songs but here are some of the big bands LIVE!! I saw COLDPLAY, FOO FIGHTERS, CAKE, BECK, FATBOY SLIM, THE BEACH BOYS(yup, still alive and touring! Kokomo rocked!!), MOBY, and NEW ORDER! Other bands I never heard of at all such as Kaiser Chiefs, The Bravery, The Futureheads, The Go Team, and DJs like Vitalic and Mylo were awesome. They had great shows and great tunes. Thanks to my neighbor who constantly played their songs for me prior to FujiRock, I was able to enjoy them more. Coldplay and Foo Fighter were one of my favorite bands to see live since I was standing relatively close to the front. Coldplay was just beautiful! Chris Martin, the lead singer, was amazing. I knew all of the music they played so I enjoyed that the most. Foo Fighter I only recognized a few songs but the energy of that performance was OFF the HOOK!! There was just so much ENERGY and Dave Grohl was insanely awesome in a rock n roll way. His rock n roll head bobbing and his scream reminded me of Steve Tyler from Aerosmith which was crazy cool. Of course Coldplay and Foo Fighter played at the largest stage with an audience capacity of up to 30,000 people. Did I mention FujiRock was held at a ski resort with 6 stages? While they played on stage, from time to time, I would awe myself by looking back at how many people there were watching, jumping, screaming, and dancing like I was. It’s an amazing feeling that I would have to say you must experience for yourself to understand it. I was definitely on a natural high! According to my friends who have seen Foo Fighter live before, that was one of their best performances he has ever seen from them. I think that was my ultimate rock n roll concert experience for FujiRock! Overall I think I saw about 20 bands or artist over the 3 days period. Each day, there were at least 50 shows going on, can you imagine how big this festival is?!

Even though FujiRock sounded it went so well, which it did overall, nature wasn’t too kind to us. It rained and it rained a lot! Saturday was the worst when it rained ALL day long. Most of us did not bring our rain gear and my windbreaker, although a little waterproof was not much help at all. Surprisingly the rain didn’t scatter the crowd and they continued to stand out in the pouring rain dancing and screaming. Kudos to the Japanese audience! I wasn’t too thrilled with the rain because it made the grounds very very muddy and when you have couple of thousands people trotting in it, it gets REALLY ugly and messy. I was wearing strapped on sandals so my feet were pretty much taking a mud bath. I don’t know if it would be worse wearing shoes and socks because the socks eventually get soggy and the inside of the shoes are completely wet. I hate that feeling! At least my sandals dried up the next day with mud crust but I bet my friends who wore shoes still had wet shoes and socks the next day. Let see, what else? Oh yeah, having just the tent is not enough. It would have been nice if there was a little padding to sleep on and a thin blanket to cover myself. I had to use a shirt to cover my cold feet and used my windbreaker in place of a blanket. I should have brought a towel too, either to wipe off the sweat or the cold rain. It was also a pain in the ass to wait in long lines in the morning to use the porta-potty and the porta-sink to wash my face and brush my teeth. I had many incidents where I just used a bush to do my waste disposal business. 3 days of not showering didn’t bother me that much since I had deodorant but not washing my hair was getting to me when it started to itch on the 3rd day. Well, that’s about it that I have to complain about but other than the, FujiRock Festival 2005 was awesome, probably something that will be unforgettable! FujiRock Festival 2006? We’ll see! I still think it’s “Angry Music!” but I like it now! Hehe..

I wish I could show you pictures but its all on a disposable camera!

This is taken from my balcony. I had too much to drink with my teachers. Today was the last day of the first semester prior to summer vacation. I can’t write anymore…..enjoy the view!

Three days ago, Monday June 27th, I finally turned 25 years old. “Great Scott” am I 25 already?! 21 and 18 seems like it was just yesterday. How time flies….I remember when I was younger, I always wished that time would turn quicker so I can become older sooner. However, these past couple of years, the sentiment have been completely opposite. I’ve been hoping time would slow down but it only goes faster and faster. The coming of age is inevitable. Every year, one becomes a year older and there is nothing one can do anything about it except maybe to just lie about your age when somebody asks for it! Turning 25 is no different than turning 24 or 23 but I think somehow, this birthday will leave an impression on me that I will not likely to forget!

First of all, this is my first birthday spent in Japan, woohoo! and what an interesting way to spend my 25th birthday then with my new Japanese friends and local American friends that I’ve only known for about 11 months. Never would I have thought that I would be living in Japan and learning Japanese when I am 25. If we look back at “Tony’s life plan,” first thought up around 18 years old Senior in High School, by 25 years old, I should be finishing up my 3rd year in Medical School. As you can see, I am nowhere near that! I guess that’s why I freak myself out sometimes because nothing so far is going according to my life plan and the only thing that is going according to plan is turning one year older every year! At least I don’t look 25 I think?! What can I say, I’m more of a person that sees the glass half empty than half full. Recently, I’ve been thinking more and more about my future, my career, my life. I know I’m a worrisome freak, I think I get that from my mom. I can’t help it.! I have a theory that subconsciously or even consciously, I’m in Japan because I’m escaping reality and procrastinating my real life from continuing. Any thoughts on that?

Ok, besides all these worries I have about becoming 25 or a year older, which I can talk on forever about, I did have a great time celebrating it. So far, I’ve already gone out to eat with different friends on 3 separate occasions and I think 1 or 2 more times are in the planning. The celebration actually started a week before my bday and going on almost a week afterward. This is the problem when everybody works like feigns in Japan and scheduling to have a meal together is even a challenge. The week before my Bday, I had Okinawa cuisine (Okinawa is an island off Japan near Taiwan. It is like the Hawaii of Japan, warm all-year round). The food was very good and the taste was very reminiscent of Taiwan cuisine. Two things I had that were very interesting: pig ear, and “sea grape,” which were these green strings of tiny beads. I think they’re just some type of edible sea grass. They taste better than they sound actually! Then the weekend before my Bday, I had my own little gathering in my town at a local yakitori (meat on a stick) joint where my local buddies and I usually hang out to eat and drink. We’re friends with the family that run the place so they were very accommodating. The chef, and also the owner of the place, roasted a whole chicken for me and my guests and bought me a cake without charging us any extra for it. It was really nice of them. That night, it was good eating, talking, laughing, and lots of beer drinking! Finally on the day of my birthday, I had dinner with my two closest Japanese friends who I first met in Taiwan last year. We had all you can eat sushi and I don’t mean buffet style like Todai in LA. We had a sushi chef to ourselves and we order from the menu what sushi we wanted to eat and he would make it right on the spot in front of us. It was very cool and it was probably the best sushi I’ve had in Japan so far. One of my friends on the other hand kept eating the fish part of the sushi and leaving me the rice portion. She wanted to make sure I had plenty to eat! All and all, I can’t complain too much about my birthday. Yeah, I’m not spending it with family or close friends but I still got a card for my birthday exactly ON my birthday and I got greetings from many friends back home. To all of you that sent me a greeting: Thank you and I will write you back soon……..I hope!

For the past three days, I was in Tokyo for JET training or orientation again. Or rather should I say, RE-contracting orientation! That’s right people, I have renewed my contract for another year to stay in Japan and teach English in Ogawa! Actually, I already renewed my contract and signed my John Hancock back in February. Why did I finally decide to say something? I don’t really know but I guess I’m just coming to term with it now after my training. It hasn’t been exactly one year yet but already knowing I’ll be here another year is somewhat exciting and also daunting at the same time. I guess I always knew I was staying on for at least two years when I first arrived in Japan since things were going so well on my own and I was having a lot of fun but my parents didn’t realize that. They were expecting me home after one year and continue with my academic/career plans. When my parents visited back in November, I was already hinting how much I liked Japan and how my situation in Japan was actually pretty good for a foreigner living on my own. I didn’t tell them directly but I think they had a pretty good idea what my intentions were. Before my parents returned to the States, my mom said to me, she’ll come visit me again in July. I asked her why and she said, “To help you carry your luggage back to L.A. of course.” I thought that was funny and said, “We’ll see!” I guess another reason why I’m reluctant to go back right now is because my Japanese is improving a lot…so I think. Everyday is a Japanese lesson and everyday i’m learning new words and phrases. I have so much inspirations in my daily life motivating me to learn Japanese and become “pera pera” (fluent speaker). Okay the REAL motivation is actually communicating with the opposite sex and it’s going well so far! haha..

I believe life follows the theory of “equilibrium.” In Japan, as much as there are ups in my life, there are also plenty of downs. It all balances out I guess. However, so far it’s been a pretty smooth and stress-free ride through life, a huge contrast to my college days. Nevertheless being the paranoid and worrisome person that I am, I can’t help to think from time to time what my life will be like or what will I do once JET is over and I will have to return to L.A. to face reality. I keep telling my friends here that I’m living in a dream and the hard part of my life is yet to come! The adjunct of another year to my life soon doesn’t help either.

Is it wrong to take a vacation from a vacation?!! This reminds me of the movie “About a Boy” starring Hugh Grant. You know what I’m talking about right? It may seem like I’m always on vacation but I’m not… really! It just so happens that spring break was only about a month away from another major Japanese national holiday or rather holiday(s). In Japan it’s called “Golden Week (GW).” I don’t know why it’s called that because it’s not even really a week of holidays. Maybe it’s a week of sunshine?! Okay, who’s laughing with me? Nobody? I don’t know what GW is like in previous years but this year, we get a Friday off but then the following Monday is a work day, and then holiday from Tuesday to Thursday and then work day again on Friday. That’s just stupid! I think it really screws up people’s travel plans and they have to use up a couple of their vacation days. Well I shouldn’t be one to complain since there are a lot of national holidays in Japan and a non working day is always a good thing!

Anyway, I wasn’t planning on sitting around for GW and despite the super high prices of airfare anywhere, I went on vacation with my two other JET buddies anyway to Bali, Indonesia. Ah….Bali, it was truly a vacation! I never thought I would actually go there. Both my friends and I have heard of Bali as a vacation destination but we all had no idea where the island was relative to United States or Japan. We were quite surprised when we checked our itinerary and found out it was a 7 hr. flight from Japan, yikes! Thanks to my travel agent friend, we were setup at a pretty cool hotel in Kuta, Bali. It has a unique design where all the rooms face the long rectangular swimming pool. Here’s a really pretty picture of it on their website: http://www.theoasis.info/kuta_thehotel.htm. The outside was really impressive and the rooms were ok in general. The bathroom needs improvement though. It’s no 5 star hotel but I would definitely recommend this place if you ever go to Bali. Our hotel definitely set the tone for the rest of our trip. Two words to describe Bali: Hot and Cheap! Weather was about 31 to 32 deg. Celsius (I’ve converted, bye bye Fahrenheit!) everyday and at night it was still warm enough to take a dip in the pool before going to sleep. It wouldn’t be paradise if it wasn’t hot right?! Talk about cheap, a bottle of water at a convenient store cost about 0.15 Cent U.S. dollar!! A bottle of the same size in Japan would cost a least a buck! A meal in Bali wouldn’t cost me over 5 U.S. Dollars. Speaking of American Dollars, I don’t know what’s up with the 1996 series of 100 dollar bills but they don’t’ accept that in Bali. That really bothered me and severely cut down my funds while I was there. Anyway, I was living like a king in Bali. Our hotel even offered a complimentary 30 mins. massage. It felt so good that on another day, I bought a full hour massage for only 15 bucks! I never had a massage before, it felt soooo good!

Anyway, besides lounging around we did a bunch of cool activities I’ve been waiting to do for a long time. I went parasailing, jet skiing, white water rafting, and something called banana boating for the first time! No, the boat didn’t look like a banana and it wasn’t yellow! I also got back on a surfboard after a 6 year hiatus (wow, it’s been too long since Hawai’i). This time I was actually successful but I’m still scared of waves breaking on me! We also took a day to go sightseeing. We hired a local to take us around the island for the day and it was only $20 U.S. dollars…for 5 people!! $5 bucks each! Cheap huh?! The most interesting place we went to was a place called monkey forest. There were lots of monkeys and they weren’t afraid of people. In fact, they’ll gather around you if they see that you have food. Oh yeah, local Balinese food was good but too spicy for me. If you know me, I am not good at all with spicy food. Anybody can attest to that? Overall expenses in Bali cost me about $200 dollars for only 6 days. I would like to go back to Bali again but I’m hoping my next destination will be Singapore or Malaysia! Indonesia = Country #13 on Tony’s list of countries visited! It wouldn’t be a travel blog if I didn’t go anywhere right?!

Pictures from Bali
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonykao0627/album?.dir=f571&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

Ahh……Spring is finally here!! I’ve been waiting for a long time! It’s a little warmer now and the breeze is nice and refreshing but the weather is still a little weird. One day it may be bright and sunny at 23 degrees, the next two days it’s raining and cold at 15 degrees. The Japanese word “Shoganai!” meaning there’s nothing you can do about it, pretty much says it all. I would have to say so far, Spring is my favorite season in Japan. One, the weather is not too hot and not too cold and two, Spring in Japan is probably renowned for it’s beautiful CHERRY BLOSSOMS! Yes, “Sakura” !!! Have you ever seen them before? I’ve never had, it was my first time, they’re BEAUTIFUL! In the States, I’ve heard of cherry blossoms but never actually seen them. Actually, I’ve seen a line of Cherry trees in Washington D.C. by the Jefferson Memorial. Those of you who’s familiar with D.C. should know where I’m talking about. However, at the time the trees were bare because it was Winter but I heard it is beautiful in the Spring when it blooms. Anybody seen the cherry blossom in D.C. before? Anyway, the Japanese makes a big deal during cherry blossom time in Japan. They even have treats with Sakura flavors! (expensive of course, it’s Japan!) I didn’t get why it was such a big deal until I found out that cherry blossoms only last for about a little over a week, two weeks at most! That was something new I did not know. They even predicate when it’ll start and when it’ll end. I’m guessing they base it on the warming trend of the weather. Actually, the prediction this year was that it would blossom around March 31st and it would last for about a week but this would mean that I would have missed it because I was still on vacation in Taiwan!! Nevertheless, once I got back to Japan and turned on my cell phone, my friend already left me a message saying I’m very lucky because the cherry blossom was a little late and I came back just in time to see it in full bloom, yay me!! Anyway, to celebrate the event in Japan, the Japanese people do a very cool thing called “Hanami,” “hana” meaning flower and “mi” means look or see. Hanami is when you go look at cherry blossoms while you’re having a picnic or getting yourself butt drunk or both, having a picnic to get yourself drunk! This is a family event, a group of friend event and in my opinion, a very romantic event for lovebirds!

I was invited by a group of my Japanese friends to Hanami in some park in Tokyo where you had to pay $5 bucks to get in. It was worth it though because we had a picnic in the park surrounded by cherry blossoms and the best part was, my friend brought all the food for the picnic. A lot was homemade sushi which was absolutely delicious. There was beer too =) It was really a beautiful sight and with a little wind, little Sakura petals were floating in air. Heard of the phrase/movie para para sakura?!

The cherry blossom also marks the beginning of the school year. It’s a nice feeling coming back to school seeing the pretty cherry trees on school grounds. As there was a ceremony when school ended, there is another ceremony for the start of a new school year. The setup looks pretty much the same to me as it did for graduation two weeks prior. Only this time, the new first year students were sitting where the graduates were sitting. There was also an unusual occurrence where a female parent was stumbling to the door as she fainted halfway there. While the ceremony continued on, most of the teacher rushed over to help her. She was carried out on stretchers =(

Sakura Pictures
http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/tonykao0627/album?.dir=bfe0&.src=ph&store=&prodid=&.done=http%3a//pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph//my_photos

My students are on Spring Break and so am I!! Therefore, I’m back in Taiwan for a week. My purpose for this trip is 3 things: Sleep, Relax, and Eat LOTS! I’m currently in Taipei at my uncle and aunt’s new apartment so it’s nice and comfy. Everything is new. It’s really a nice feeling to be in a new house with my aunt, uncles, and my two cousins. They’re my second family particularly in Taiwan because I always stay with them. My two cousins (one female, one male) are both a little older than me. They are my big bro and sis when I’m in Taiwan and they take great care of me. Even though it’s great to be living on my own, once in awhile, it’s nice to be pampered again being the youngest. So far the highlight of this trip has been the food and the endless eating marathon. I haven’t missed a meal since I’ve got here. I’ve had full breakfast, lunch, and dinner with snacking in between. Food has been awesome so far and especially WAY cheaper than Japan. I have been feasting on all my favorite Taiwanese dishes and snacks. I’ve also been drinking watermelon juice practically everyday and resulting in waking up at least every night in the middle of the night to empty my bladder. I’ve also been eating a lot more meat trying to make up for all the meat that I’m NOT eating in Japan.

Highlights so far:
1) Rode a relatively new AirBus airplane with personal TV and movie selection to Taipei.

2)At the gate where the “Nothing to declare sign” was, a Taiwanese customs officer asked for my passport, looked at it without opening it and asked me, “YOU’RE AMERICAN?” At first, I said “Yes” in Chinese and then he asked me the same question again and the second time I responded “Yes” in English and then he handed back my passport without ever looking inside and said to me, “YOU GO TO WAR!” I smiled, and said “No” and quickly walked out the gate.

3)Relaxed with my aunt, uncle, and cousin at a hotel resort outside of Taipei(Hualian). It’s in Taiwan but we took an airplane to get there and the flight was only about 30 minutes.

4)Went to Taipei 101, the tallest building/skyscraper in the World. It just opened its 89th floor observatory a few months ago. It only took 35 seconds to go from floor 3 to floor 89! Nice view of Taipei but it seemed a little dark.

5)Lastly, ate and ate and ate………..

Okay, going to bed now, I’m still on vacation. Back to work on Friday!

What? The school year is over? Already? But it’s only late March! The new school year starts the second week in April?! This is madness or is it?

This news came as a big surprise to me. I always thought school year starts in September and ends in June no matter where you go. Then I realized, this is Japan and not the United States. They do many things differently here than they do back home. I don’t know why the school year ends in mid march and starts up again in early April but I’m sure there’s a darn good reason for it. I also heard that a new fiscal year for businesses also starts anew around the same time. I think it’s a pretty interesting difference! Last week, I attended the graduation for the 3rd graders at one of the Junior High school I teach at. The graduation ceremony was definitely different than those in the States, especially from what I remembered of my own Junior High graduation LONG ago. I think the biggest difference was the mood of the whole event. It was solemn, serious, and somewhat emotional. First of all, graduation was held on a Tuesday morning around 9:30AM in the gym! The entire student population was in attendance with the graduates sitting in the front. In addition were the guest speakers from who knows where and the family of the graduates. Mostly in attendance were probably mothers, aunts, and grandmothers. I didn’t see much male family members or siblings in attendance. Where were the dads, and the brothers, sisters, and cousins? Hmmm..Tuesday morning, go figure huh?!

All the teachers were also in attendance but we were all dressed in black. I only have a black suit anyway. However, all the male teachers were wearing a white dress shirt with their suit while I wore a blue dress shirt. I really felt out of place for awhile but then I rationalized that I was a foreigner and I should stand out anyway. In the gym, we always wore special indoor shoes that we would never wear outside. Usually it would be shoes with a rubber sole. I guess it’s to prevent the wooden gym floor from being dirtied or scratched up. At graduation, it was interesting to see the family members of the graduates bring their own slippers from home. It was funny to see them all dressed up really nice and then you look down and they’re wearing these bright color fuzzy slippers.

There wasn’t much clapping during the graduation but a whole lot of bowing. The only time the audience clapped was when the graduates entered the gym and left the gym. Every other time was bowing, which made the ceremony very quiet. Before a guest speaker spoke, he or she would first bow to the principal and the teaching staff, then to the Japanese flag on the stage, and lastly to the graduates. When the speaker finishes the speech, it was awkward for me not to clap because nobody else did. The speaker just bows and the audience just bows back. Bowing was key to the ceremony. For the student to go on stage to accept his/her diploma, I counted that a student bowed about 5 times. Now multiply that by about 200 students. That’s a lot of bows! Like I said earlier, the event is somewhat emotional because most students will not be attending the same High School(HS). It’s unlike the States where we all knew that most students would attend one of the HS in the same school district whereas my students are going to various HS in different towns and cities, some as far as an hour and a half away from where they live. Students from all grades make speeches and tears start rolling. Even some of the female teachers gets choked up and tears starts falling.

Once the ceremony was over, non-graduating students along with some teachers would line both side of the path leading to the main gate of the school. Graduates would walk down this path and start giving away some of their belongings or little gifts or letters to the underclassmen. When I say belongings, I mean things like buttons on their school uniform, their name tags, their gym clothes, and even their shoes. The person who gets them would be extremely gratified. This giving practice is a Japanese tradition where the graduates, who are seen as mentors, gives the underclassmen, their mentees, things to remember them by and give them words of encouragement. I think it’s a very cool and interesting tradition. For the boy’s uniform there are many buttons in the front but the second button from the top is a very special button that they cannot just give to anybody. Since this is the button that is closest to the heart, that button belongs to their special person or somebody they like. Cool huh? Overall it was a great experience. I just wish everybody didn’t look so sad and solemn. When some teachers asked me what graduation was like in the States, I told them it was like a celebration of accomplishment and people were happy and laughing. They thought that was very strange!