Where are the photos?

Since I have a hard time posting photos on my blog, I have a new account on Flickr. If you want to see photos of Japan, eventually, I will be putting all my photos there. It seems to be much easier than blogspot.

Currently, most are from past trips, although some are from a recent weekend visit to a friend's house in Okazaki. Okazaki is a small town a few hours drive south of Tokyo.

The address is:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stsebald/

Coffee Mugs?

Welcome to another look into what makes the missionary tick!

My friend is always finding wonderful opportunities to share tidbits of information on her blog, and sometimes, I then also share them on my blog. I don't always, but since this one was about coffee mugs, and because my first love, even before sumo, was coffee -- this seemed very appropriate. The theme is to talk about seven coffee mugs in my cupboard.


As a coffee fanatic, I probably have a mug for every mood, but most of them are packed in a box somewhere in Middle America. And in Japan, I only have seven mugs. However, if you read until the end, you will be quite humored by the collection.

1. A large, wonderful and fantastic mug from Ireland, omiyage from my friend who visited ... well, Ireland. (omiyage is Japanese for souvenir, but as I always spell the English word wrong, the Japanese word has become part of my English vocabulary!). Alas, though, the handle broke on this wonderful, fantastic, and large mug (Did I mention this awesome mug holds a lot of coffee at one time?).

I am on the hunt for superglue.

2. A simple white mug with blue designs, from the 100 yen shop, Japan's equivalent of a dollar store. My roommates and I each bought one when we moved to Japan and discovered there weren't enough mugs in our house for each of us.

3. A “Parody Mug.” This orange mug with a funny face on it and lots of Japanese took me a long time to decipher. It was one of the mugs in my house when I moved in. (I mean, it was the only mug in the house when I moved in). After a year and a half of watching Japanese television, I finally figured out it is making fun of one of the popular comedians on Japanese television. I still can't read all of it, but I feel victorious at having gotten that much.

Mugs 4, 5, and 6 are travel mugs from Starbucks. Yes, I know. But, two of them were gifts.
4 When I first moved to Japan, I did not have a travel mug and this is an essential household item. So, I bought the cheapest one I could find, which, believe it or not, turned out to be from Starbucks. It says Tokyo on it, but it isn't very pretty. That was Fall of 2005.
5 Then, in the Fall of 2006, my aunt and uncle were in Tokyo for a visit. And as a thank you for showing us around Tokyo present, they gave me a mug I had looked at when we went for coffee one time. It celebrates the 10th anniversary of Starbucks in Tokyo. And is quite cute.
6 Then, only a few months after that, I received a birthday present of a beautiful mug showing a Japanese style painting. It was one of the New Year Mugs, and says Japan 2007. Considering I haven't even been to Starbucks at all in the last several months, this is quite the collection! One mug for every year I've been here so far. Think someone will buy me yet another one before I leave next year?

And finally – number 7. Yet another travel mug. This is the one I use the most, since I don't go to Starbucks, but to a locally-owned coffee shop. The coffee there is from a certification program ensuring fair prices and responsible farming, etc. Finally, after going to this store (regularly) for a year and a half, the owner now sells travel mugs. Yea! Now I can get a coffee on my way to work, and it's both cheaper than Starbucks, and good for the farmers (hmm, not that I ever went to Starbucks on my way to work – maybe it's not cheaper!). And the mug is bigger. Oh, and the picture? It's a Vespa scooter and a bee: “Bees,” being the name of the shop, and a Vespa being the shop owner's mode of transportation.

Holiday Travels

November 23 is a holiday in Japan, Labor Thanksgiving Day. Historically a cross between Labor Day and a harvest festival, this holiday isn't as celebrated as some others in Japan. I however, was invited by a wonderful church member to visit Gifu prefecture in central Japan. The weather was surprisingly warm, and we were able to go autumn leaf-viewing in comfort.

The area is very popular with tourists.




Also that weekend, we visited Shirokawa-go, a valley filled with these beautiful houses. Many of the houses still use thick thatch roofs, as the snow is quite heavy in the winter. The area has become a popular winter tourist destination, but in November, it wasn't very crowded.

Here is a close-up of one of the roofs.




That evening we stayed in a traditional Japanese hotel, called a ryokan. The dinner was quite elaborate, and laid out on the table in our room.


And, finally, here is a picture of the most beloved sight in Japan. Fuji san, Mount Fuji. As it was taken from the bus window, it isn't very clear, but it is otherwise a nice close-up.

J3 Retreat, this year in Nagasaki

Nagasaki, Japan is a beautiful city on the island of Kyushu.

Nagasaki was an important port historically, as it was open to the West (actually, only the Dutch) when the rest of Japan was closed to foreigners.

The ciy is also famous for its Christian history. Today there are many Catholic Churches, due in part to a history of Portguese missions in the area. However, for about 250-300 years (roughly 1580s-1870s, give or take a decade), Christianity was persecuted, outlawed, or tolerated for foreigners only.

In February, 1597, 26 people were matryred in Nagasaki. Today there is a museum on the hill where they were crucified, and is dedicated not only to them, but to all martyrs.


The commemoration day for the 26 Martyrs of Japan is February 5 in the Lutheran calendar as well as the Roman Catholic calendar.


This is Oura Catholic Church, which also honors the 26 martyrs.


Also in Nagasaki is the Glover house, the first western-style house built in Japan. Thomas Glover was from Scotland but moved to Nagasaki.



Either Tomas Glover or his brother are interwoven into various legends about the the inspiration for the opera Madam Butterfly. Cho-cho San, (butterfly in Japanese) has been compared to Glovers's wife (!), his mistress, his brother's mistress, or various other women living in Nagasaki at the time. There is no historical proof that Madam Butterfly was ever a real person, but rather is a story insprired by the West's curiosity of all things Japanese.


This , however, has not stopped the Glover Gardens from using Madam Butterfly to promote tourism to the garden.

The Concert Mascot

Last Saturday was the annual concert at Katerina, the dormitory where I teach. Many of our students attend the prestigious Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, known as Geidai for short.

With the incredible amount of talented students living in the dormitory, the students are able to perform a wonderful show every year.

This year we were able to experience a concert ranging from operatic vocal to a Bach quartet, solos from Debussy and a saxophone solo by a composer whose name I didn't know.

There was even a sing-a-long of Japanese pop songs (of which I knew 2 of the 3! I was quite proud). It seems a luxury to be able to attend a concert as rich and varied as this.

As a staff member, I expected to be assigned a job at the concert like all the other staff members, but I was disappointed to discover I was left off the list. This was more than likely because no one could tell me what to do in English, and I may or may not have understood any Japapnese instructions!

The night of the concert, though, I approached one of the leaders and said the only sentence I could remember in Japanese at that moment: "I want to help."

Not exactly the polite form, but it got the point across.

They all laughed at the foreigner trying so hard to be a part of the group. And they named me the mascot. Not exactly the job title I was aiming for, but they did let me hand out programs.

In idle conversation, I asked what a program is called in Japanese. Three people gave me three different answers.

And people wonder why I am struggling with this language.

So call me the Concert Mascot, the English Teacher and Persistent Foreigner. At least they know I am, and am happy to be, part of the staff.

Tropical Getaway

A late sumer vacation included a trip Okinawa Prefecture, although I spent my time not on the main island of Okinawa, but on two islands a 14-hour ferry ride away from there. Ishigaki and Taketomi Islands are a part of a group of islands known as Yaeyama.

"Japan's last frontier" Yaeyama been called.

This is Kabira Bay, Ishihgaki,

a place famous for its pearl cultivation. I wish I had pictures of the many different colors of pearls they conjur up in the beautiful bay.

This is the ocean as seen from Taketomi Island, where the sand is shaped like stars (I thought that was a gimmick, until I went to the beach and saw it really is shaped like stars!)

Even if the sand was not unusual, have you ever seen such a beautiful blue as in that ocean?

I listened to traditional music while in Ishigaki. I also had a crash course lesson on how to play a small wooden percussion instrument called a sanba. The woman in brown is playing it in this picture; I am sorry it is too small to see. These three people were very friendly. We had a good conversation, and they even tried to teach me Japanese history. It was a fun afternoon!

These are shisa, a pair of protective dragons that guard almost every house in the Yaeyama/Okinawa islands. Each set has a male and female. The male has his mouth open, and scares evil away. The female has her mouth closed and keeps good in. They are sometimes portrayed as very fierce, and sometimes as cute cartoon animals.

And, lastly, the ferry ride back to Okinawa to catch my plane back to Tokyo. This was a a wonderful journey, although I think any longer than 14 hours, and I would have wondered what to do with myself! But. the ocean was beautiful, and I met new friends on the boat.

A summertime trip to Iwate Prefecture

A Kappa is a mischevious creature from Japanese folk tales. They live in rivers and resemble frogs.

A river in Iwate Prefecture where Kappa are said to live.

A magariya is a type of old Japanese house.This one is at a cultural park, but in times past, the left side of this house was the horse stable, and the right side where the people lived.

Magariya roof

A fishing boat along the Pacific coast.

Where is Iwate Prefecture?

See map at: ttp://gojapan.about.com/cs/japanmaps/l/blprefecturemap.htm

(Tokyo is number 13. Iwate is number 4)

Want more information about Iwate? See:

http://www.jnto.go.jp/eng/location/rtp/Northern_Tohoku/outline.html