Buddhist Temple

We had the honor of attending a special ceremony at a Buddhist temple in Shizuoka. I am going to share the layman’s view of what we were able to observe that day. I have to admit I do not understand everything I saw that day, but it was exciting to participate, even on the fringes, of this once in a lifetime celebration.
The care of Buddhist temple is traditionally passed on to a son. Fujika’s grandfather had been in charge of the temple up until his death a year ago. This November, her uncle was officially ‘invested’ in the temple.
As in all special ceremonies, the participants were all dressed in elaborate and ornate clothing. The children, called Ochigo-san for this celebration, were absolutely adorable. They were dressed in purple, ‘blousy’ pants with a multicolored short kimono type of top. They girls wore golden crowns and the boys had golden hats. They were so cute and very serious as they were given blessings from the priests.
The priests from many of the other temples also participated. They were richly garbed in ornately stitched kimonos of greens or purples. The color denotes the rank of the priest, the purple being the higher, “nobler” rank. Her uncle, of course, was in a gorgeously embroidered kimono, purple, with an exquisitely ornate shawl (I don’t know what to call it) wrapped around him (a VERY expensive outfit).
The day started with a procession through the streets with the priests leading and chanting. Her uncle was next, walking under a large, red umbrella, and then the children followed in the parade. Alas, the crowns did not want to stay on their heads so there were many stops to straighten them out, tuck in clothing and getting the sandals back on their feet.
After we returned from the procession, everyone filed into the temple and sat on the small cushions, zabuton, placed on the tatami mats. The ceremony began with a ritual opening of a new gate for the priest and purification. The priests entered carrying incense and or ornate urns and proceeded to ‘pray’ at each corner of the altar. Flowers were spread to purify the temple for her uncle to enter and receive the official orders to be a priest of the temple. They have a special book for the temple which records priests and activities in the temple. (It’s so important to the temple that when there was a fire during World War II, Fujika’s grandmother ran away carrying the notebook with her.)
Check out http://www.geocities.com/zooguide2002/index.htm for pictures.

Shizuoka - Part I

Fujika, our Japanese daughter, and her family invited us for the weekend to Shizuoka.
It’s a small city but it’s set in a fabulous location. Fujisan, Mount Fuji, is by far the most outstanding backdrop any city could ever hope for.
Fujika met us at the train station and took us on a tour of this great city. We took a bus up to Nihondaira. This is a park/tourist spot where there is a fabulous, photo opportunity view of Mt. Fuji. There are wonderful trails to hike around on and fantastic shots. It would be a great place to go year-round and get pictures of the mountain during all seasons. There’s also a shrine there that is only accessible by cable car…we saved that for another trip. Next we traveled back down to Shizuoka and went upstairs in a large office building. Believe it or not, they have dedicated on whole floor to tourists – you have a fabulous view of the entire city up on the 14th floor (or thereabouts). It was a great way to see the entire city - as well as Mt Fuji. We went down to Sumpu Park, where there once was a great castle, though all that now remains is the gateway. They have a fabulous garden there as well as many walkways and places for the children to play – great for just relaxing. It is so well cared for that, believe it or not, the gardeners were carefully pruning the tree to give it the Japanese bonsai look. We were probably there for an hour and they (3 men) were still working on the one tree.
Fujika kept telling us about the lights we could see at night and oh my gosh – I was not prepared for them. The city has lit up a few city blocks – the entire length of a mid-city park and a number of streets around it. It is so reminiscent of the zoo. Every tree, every light pole, everything available was a cascade of colors. The large building at the end of the park area had a huge tree displayed on it, making you think of Rockefeller Center. It was really spectacular! The streets are closed to cars on the weekends so shoppers were combing the streets for special deals. Every story was playing Christmas carols. It really was a walk down Disneyland Main Street at Christmas – only this time it was in Japan!

Pictures on line - Finally!!!

I have started posting some pictures on my yahoo site at:
http://www.geocities.com/zooguide2002/
It's a work in progress so come back whenever you can.

Shirakawa

We have just returned from a true time warp – a weekend wrapped in 18th Century Japan. Shirakawa is famous for Gassho-style thatched-roof houses. You can check out some pretty good pictures at: http://www3.kiy.jp/~tourj/hida/shira-1.html

They are called "gassho-zukuri" type of houses and are located primarily in Shirakawago – especially since they’ve built a dam that covers most of the other areas where the buildings were once found. They did move many of the buildings to Shirakawa to create an open air museum where they show the homes, crafts and other activities from the 18th Century.
This style of traditional Japanese architecture means "praying hands." It comes from the shape of the roof which is thought to resemble two hands clasped in Buddhist prayer. The VERY steep roof is designed to prevent snow piling up on the roof, and it also keeps the inside relatively cool in summer. Absolutely no pegs or nails were used in their construction. The homes had an "irori" (Japanese hearths) in the main central area. They are small squares filled with sand where the people did their cooking and found warmth in the houses. The smoke from these hearths permeated throughout the gassho-zukuri, darkening the walls and wood over the years. Traditionally, the smoke was used to keep the silkworms warm (families used to raise silkworms in frames in the upper levels of the building). The smoke from the fires was essential to provide a protective coating for the pine and chestnut pillars and beams against insects. It also kept the thatching dry and insect free, meaning that the roofs were replaced every 40-45 years. Now they have to replace them every 20-25 years because they don’t last as long. So much for modernizing things….
Staying there was really an experience. The rooms are clean but very traditional. Tatami mats are on the floor everywhere and all of the walls were shoji screens with rice paper. They have hallways on the outside of the rooms – meaning that when the doors are all closed, there is trapped air and thus more warmth inside (warmth being relative, of course). They had the irori in the middle of the main room where we ate. They had a modern kitchen too cook in but they did have a small wood burning stove that kept the room quite toasty – well…at lest the half of you facing the stove. We ate a fabulous selection of traditional Japanese foods – things most of us had absolutely no idea what they were. Fortunately (for me) everyone else was a carnivore so they took the fish for me.
The beds were the traditional futons on the floor with warm, fluffy quilts pile up to keep you warm. We slept very well – even with the pillows filled with something along the lines of beans – rice husks maybe? The woman told us quite a bit about the house – with simple words and lots of pantomiming and acting out. The house was over 300 years old, though it has been added onto over the years. At one time the barn was attached to the house and they kept cows (mooing and horns told us this). Rooms were filled about 6 inches deep with straw – that made the bedding. They climbed up the ladders with milk on their backs – never did figure out why. She came to the house when she married…she hummed the wedding march. The family still lives in the house – the son and grandchildren on one side, grandma over nearer the kitchens. A very different lifestyle even today.

Site of Reversible Destiny

Wow – if you want to go to a strange place, this is it. There’s juts no telling what you’re going to run into – quit literally. It’s actually a children’s park (how many guesses do you need for who really wanted to go?) and it’s a VERY active place. There are numerous strangely shaped buildings with multiple entrances and then again, maybe only one entrance…and the same exit! There are sofas, beds, TVs and much more placed on the floor and on the ceiling. We walked all around a top walkway that goes through a VERY narrow path, varying from aabout shoulder high to over your head….only to come to the end – requiring you to walk all the way back. We’re talking plaster yourself against the wall while the other people plaster themselves against the wall everyone sumimasen’s themselves past the others. Crazy. There’s a curved field down below with very unusual shapes and sinks and chairs and mushroom buildings growing up all over. A child’s paradise, that’s for sure.

Shi-Go-San Day

Quite by accident, we stumbled onto a Japanese matsuri, or festival. Our trip started quite innocently. We went to Atsuta-jingo (shrine) in downtown Nagoya. The shrine is a very old, Shinto shrine from the 3rd century. Get this, it’s open 24 hours a day (so far, they all seem to be). Anyway. It is one of the most famous ones in the area and is supposed to house a very special sword handed down to the imperial family by a goddess. Of course, no one can see, but…it’s there. Anyway…the setting is lovely and the buildings are fabulous and the grounds are extensive – a very large Japanese garden with many wonderful paths to explore.
Back to the story. We had had entered the shrine area and purified ourselves by washing our hands at the fountain – there are cups to pour the water over your hands always present. We noticed literally dozens of small children dressed in kimonos (both boys and girls though the styles are different). They were absolutely precious! There were so many of them we figured there had to be something going on. That’s when we found out about 7-5-3 day. Turns out that infant mortality at one time was quite high so when a child reached 3, parents celebrated the milestone (boys and girls). At the age of 5, they celebrated boys and at 7 it was girls again. The children are very serious. They go to the shrine, generally ring a bell, and the family will pray. There are also young girls dressed up who will ring bells around the child to attract the gods and then they’ll pray for health and long life for the child.
We also got to see 2 gorgeous brides all dressed up for their wedding. They were in very traditional kimonos with headpieces and geta shoes. The wedding parties were quite large and everything was very elaborate – and quite difficult since it was pouring rain outside!!! The shrine is a very popular area for weddings also and there are some gorgeous wedding shots to be had around the gardens – when it isn’t raining, of course.

Typhoon 101...What's in a name?

Are you ready for a science lesson? Today’s topic is typhoons –just the name ‘typhoon’ refers to something quite specific though the phenomenon has other names…

“Typhoon is the name for a tropical cyclone with sustained winds of 74 miles per hour (65 knots) or greater in the western North Pacific Ocean. This same tropical cyclone is known as a hurricane in the eastern North Pacific and North Atlantic Ocean, and as a cyclone in the Indian Ocean. (weather.com)”

Since there’s one howling outside as I type I can present you with some first hand information. It is astonishing how strong the wind is. The bursts are so strong sometimes the house actually shakes. We can see sheets of water blowing – I mean being blasted -past the middle school (it is doing a great job of blocking some of the direct hits of water and wind but there’s still plenty moving around it). It’s almost like the wind has picked up the ocean and throwing it at the land.
Fortunately, the Japanese, who’ve had lots of experience with these, have done some things to their homes. First, we have easy to close storm windows – metal sheets that simply slide on the tracks over your windows. The wind and anything that is picked up is held back from the windows. Does make the house quite dark but at night it makes no difference. We kept the windows open so we could watch until it got dark outside. Also, the doors throughout the house have little hooks on the bottom of them. On the floor, against the wall, is the doorstop – complete with a small wire that hooks over the aforementioned hook on the door. Eliminates all the banging doors when the wind hits (works for earthquakes too).
Back to the lesson. They measure the wind speed in knots. Now I saw 75KT and I was thinking 75 miles per hour. However, it’s actually closer to 90 mph when you finish all of the calculations. The storm could easily dump 20 inches of rain – the trains and busses are usually stopped and sometimes certain areas are evacuated.
The weather bureau/government keeps an eye on storms and issues “keiho” (warnings). You listen when they do. They called one this morning at 8:15 and all of the schools were expected to close and send everyone home. What a mess! The kids had just arrived and we turned around and sent them home at 10:00 (it took that long to call all the parents so that there’d be someone home for them). What a day!!! The storm actually started at about 2:00 so it was a good thing we sent them off.

Placing flowers on a sheet of rice paper. The pictures were taken with the cell phone masquerading as a camera. 

Large outdoor vat where they boiled the husks. 

Paper Making

It was so cool to watch them make paper. They begin with boiling the husks in a huge outdoor pot. The charcoal (made in the shop down the road) is shoveled in under the vat and the husks are put inside and simmered. Once they’re ready, the fibers are hand separated and then mixed into a pulp. I’m sure there’s a bit more to it but my Japanese leaves much to be desired so my knowledge comes from the available photos and watching the women working.
They eventually pour the pulp into a large holding tank and mix it with a lot of water. They have a very shallow prepared tray they use with bamboo mats. They swish the tray through the water a number of times before they pull it up to drain. They then open the tray and pull up the bamboo with the wet sheet of paper on it. It is put upside down on the rack and then the bamboo sheet is carefully pulled up. Next the woman adds dried flowers that she had and then repeats the process to create a sheet with the flowers embedded. Fascinating to watch. Once she has a complete stack created, she puts them in a press to squeeze out the water. They had a large curved, heated metal sheet that they took the pressed papers to and laid them against the metal to dry completely.
There you have it….paper making 101!

This was a working waterwheel that was attached to the building where they were making paper. They also had some huge koi in the pond. 

A shot of the very overgrown graveyard perched on the hill above the river. 

Asuke

Asuke is really a cool place to visit. The Japanese Maple trees there are fabulous and HUGE – nothing like the small ones we generally find in the states. There’s a large river that runs through the area – nice for wading into to cool off when it’s very hot. It does run quickly so you can’t swim very much. The bridges that span it are very picturesque.
There are a lot of hiking trails in the area. We took the large, main trail that meandered down the river to a shrine and a craft area. I’ll post a couple of pictures to show some of the things we saw.
The shrine is not particularly large but it does have more than one building in the area. The amazing thing is the extensive cemetery next to it. The headstones are found all over the hill, some with vines growing on them much like you would expect to find in a rainforest. They range from very simple, tiny stones to fairly large monuments. We walked through the area, wishing we could read more of them to know how old they were. Many had fresh flowers on them…one had an ornate tea cup on one side – and a can of Asahi beer on the other!!
The craft village was fabulous. They had craftsmen working inside each building. We first stopped at a woodworker – he was creating bowls from very large, dried bamboo pieces. The color that was in the bowl was the natural color of the bamboo and he cut and worked on it to keep some and take off some to create a beautiful bowl! He also had many beautiful (and expensive) bowls from wood I couldn’t identify. Next there was a charcoal kiln. Here the man burned the wood and then, at the proper time, he removed it, cooled it, and then cut it up for charcoal (we used some for the fire at our camp area).
They had a group who were working on creating the paper umbrellas the Japanese use. The work that goes into creating each and every spoke for it and the paper (hand painted, of course) and how they laid it out on the spokes. It was nothing short of remarkable. They are still purchased and used here – traditional weddings always use them. Other crafts included knife making, dyeing, boat making, weaving and, my favorite, paper making. (I’ll have to do a whole new entry on that).

The falls were gorgeous. This area had 2 falls cascading down from the alps. The water was cold but very clear. 

The mountains were shrouded in clouds but they towered around us on the walk. Many great views! 

Magome to Tsumago

Magome-juku is a small town in Kiso Valley, a couple of hours north of Nagoya. The valley is in the Japan Alps, and is one of the old post roads that connected Edo (Tokyo) with Kyoto in the Edo period. (If you want the details, ask Jeff. He knows them all!) The towns of Magome and Tsumago were built to be “post-towns” - places where travelers could stop to rest and eat and be safe. At the time, the warlords were supposed to spend a good portion of their time in Edo (allowing the emperor to keep an eye on them). It meant the roads were used quite frequently. It would have been a very long trip to have had to make the journey every year. The road now is partially paved with blocks from an earlier construction cemented into the path. Parts of the path actually go through people’s backyards!!! It was a good thing they had signs or we would have turned back, thinking we had missed the road!
Tsumago-juku is the end of this trail and is another of the post-towns, (juku means post-town). It’s a cool place because they’ve worked at keeping it old looking – it’s supposed to be just like the old cities in the Edo period. They don’t allow telephone poles, tv aerials, modern buildings or modern signs in the town. There are some wonderful old homes there and beautiful koi ponds/waterfalls all integrated into the landscape. I found the one I want to retire to! There are many waterways coming down from the alps in the area so they’ve simply used what is coming anyway as a part of their landscape. It’s really quite beautiful!

Denny's

Yes, you've read correctly. We ate at Denny's. This is indeed a Denny's never to be found in America. The menu includes tasty morsels such as spaghetti with three truffle sauce. The salad was great - the veggies were roasted (including lotus root). They also had pork curry, a fried mushroom dish and chorizo with squid rings (they look just like onion rings from the pictures). We had a great time just reading the menu and looking at the pictures. I want to go back for the sundae. Oh my gosh I have never seen anything quite so big in my life. I think it would take at least 2 determined people to eat it. Care to join me?

Nagoya tower from Sakae. We're on top of a dome structure over an open shopping area. The pool is only inches deep and you can see the water from below. 

Nagoya by Car

Imagine any large city at rush hour. Now, imagine driving through that city with completely indecipherable road signs, signs written in a totally random script. Add to that the fact that there are very few road names anyway, readable or not. Give yourself a map that shows the basic layout, without road names, and in the same indecipherable language. Add to that mixture, driving on the wrong side of the road. Add drivers who weave down the road to continuously get ahead. That just might give you a rough idea of driving into downtown Nagoya…an experience not to be repeated.

We have come to the conclusion that the subway system is the only way to go.

He looks so high - and this was on the way back down!  

They had up to 6 up in the air at one time! Really spectacular. 

She was playing with the orca with the hoop and ball. She patted him on the nose when he gave them to her and then fed him some fish. Quite a playmate! 

Nagoya Port

It may have taken well over an hour to arrive at Nagoyako – bus, train and subway – but it was well worth the trip. The Aquarium is spectacular. As you walk through the doors, you are greeted with a view of dolphins cavorting in the large, expansive tank. The animals enjoy performing, diving, jumping, gracefully swimming on their backs and coming right up to the window to watch you, watching them. They’re magnificent.

There’s also an orca whale swimming through the different tanks, always with a small dolphin by his side. It’s spectacular to watch him fill the window as he moves from one area to another.

Traveling up to the 2nd floor, you can see the open tanks and the ‘performance’ area. The tanks are all interconnected, allowing the animals to move from one to another, or to be isolated for training – or waiting to perform. We watched the keeper playing with the orca. The whale brought a hula hoop up to her and played with it, teasing her and not letter her have it. Finally, the trainer quit playing and used hand signs to have the whale give it to her, which he did (and, of course, got a fish in return).

The actual show was fabulous. The dolphins were the stars. They cavorted about the tank, jumping and flipping in unison – including 6 of them jumping out of the water together. Pretty remarkable what they can do – and they seemed to love doing it.

More to come….the aquarium was huge!

Under the windows are the airconditioner/heater units for each classroom. Note the hangers from the ceiling - they can move back and forth on the track! 

School

We finally made it! We are in the building and what a building it is. There are some features that would make a teacher fall in love. First…there is storage – floor to ceiling along one whole wall. Second…there’s a sink in every room WITH counter space. Third…there are hangers along the ceiling that can be used to hang things – and they can be moved along the track wherever you want them. Fourth…the wall are completely ‘spongy’ so that you can put thumbtacks in anywhere you want. Fifth…they are big (larger than Chinook’s). Sixth…there are about 14 kids in each classroom. Seventh…the science room is really a science lab with everything you need to conduct hands on experiments. This is just heavenly.

Getting into the building has been really difficult. Today was our first day in and they had organized about 100 kids, alumni and parents to come help move everything. The problem was that there was also a typhoon headed our way. Instead of working all day, it was called off at 1:00 so that everyone could get home before it hit (we’re actually on the outer fringe of it so it’s not that bad but there are definitely high winds outside.) My library has a lot of the furniture and chairs and a good part of the AV stuff already moved in. We have all of the books to move but with the wind and rain coming down they didn’t want to get everything soaked. There are still a lot of boxes left in the gym to be moved. I did get a chance to get some of the AV stuff out of boxes and on shelves or checked out to people (the more they take, the less I have to shelve). I will be barcoding a lot of stuff here because most of the AV stuff is not barcoded. It will take a while but with only about 25 classrooms it won’t be difficult to get it done. Some stuff gets shared because there is not enough for one a piece but everyone is flexible. Already found the ‘tech’ guy who likes to hang onto the Elmo to “make sure it’s not messed around with”. It’s fine because he uses it frequently.

I now have all of the boxes in the library – hundreds of boxes – looks like thousands of boxes. I have to wonder when it will all end. At least there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

The storage unit - found in every room. The counter on the left is the sink. 

Baseball

You have not experienced baseball until you have seen a Japanese baseball game! We erroneously thought we were headed to a night of baseball and indeed it was the game we were expecting. The game, as played in Japan, is a totally participatory sport. First ALL of the fans are dressed up in the appropriate colors/clothing/hats or whatever that supports their particular team - all except, of course, the crazy gaijin who don’t know any better. Then, you give each and every one of those crazy fans two bat shaped plastic objects of various sizes from long and skinny to short and fat. Then you add some cheerleaders on the field – complete with pink knee high boots and bright pink pom poms – looking very much like go-go girls. Now you also need the mascots – 2 dinosaurs and a mouse – who dance around with the girls on the field. That, however, is not enough. You also need some cheer leading right up there in the stands – 4 to 6 people, dressed in the appropriate colors, blow whistles to attract the attention of the hords so that they can bang the baseball shaped things together in time to beating drums and the live band. Now, to further attract attention to your side, add a few flags – BIG flags, GIGANTIC flags, between 3 and 6 flags – all being waved to the beat of the aforementioned drums and bands. Add some chants to this and you have just set the stage for the beginning of the game.

They are very civil about their cheering. Each side takes turns cheering their team on when they are the ones up at bat. They are LOUD! They jump around, they sway back and forth, they bang on each other’s bats, they chant louder and louder. It’s actually a wonder that the team members can think at all with the noise level. As the game progressed, the taking turns seemed to diminish and both teams were cheering, frequently at the same time – particularly since it turned out to be a very close game. The notable thing, however, was that there was absolutely NO booing whatsoever from either side. We also noted the total cleanliness of the stands. They even had crew who wiped up spills while the game was in process! Trash was even thrown away (though we did notice that the losing team left some behind, not so the winning team). Absolutely amazing!

Asakusa Shrine - the gold work is fabulous! 

Kazumi, Jeff and Kaz at the Asakusa Shrine in Tokyo 

Funny Face Dancing 

Tokyo

We had our first ride on the Shinkansen (bullet train). The stations have enough of a mixture of romaji and hiragana that it is possible to navigate with minimum help. Having a ticket in Japanese also does wonders because pointing works well, along with lots of arigato- gozaimasu’s and summimasen’s. We’re getting quite good at at least that part. Arriving in Tokyo we discovered that there wasn’t just 1 exit, there were 6! We had no idea which one Kazumi would be at so we headed for the North exit (Kita means north, hence the connection). Fortunately, we didn’t have to wait long before she appeared, breathless. She had been hurrying from one to the other to find us. It was still another 15 min. or so to their station and then a 15 min. walk to their home. It sounds like a long time but when you look at the network of cars and roads it’s probably half the time you would have spent driving!

Funabashi is a suburb of Tokyo though I don’t think there was any break whatsoever between the various cities – they simply run together and one side of the street is in one city, the other in the next (much like LA).They live in a very tiny apartment that reminded of us American travel trailers. Everything is compact and no space is overlooked or unused. Extremely efficient though tiny, tiny, tiny. They are saving money so that they can get something much better in the future. Housing is VERY expensive in Japan – much more so than in the US.

We spent Saturday going to Asusaka shrine in Tokyo. It’s a very large shrine with the traditional gate and long, at one time elegant, entrance path up to the actual shrine. It now has the air of a festival with many vendors lining the path, selling their wares and games for the children. We tried the fortune telling – if you get a bad one you can tie it to the tree so that it will take away the bad fortune for you. Jeff’s was very good but I definitely tied mine to the tree with a very secure knot! The shrine itself is fabulous. The details put into the roof tiles and statues and carvings is unbelievable. The center altar piece (for lack of a better word) was totally made of gold, intricately made into tiny shapes and patterns. It was spectacular to see. The splendor and beauty was in sharp contrast to the festival quality outside.

We took off to “Jeff’s town” after that, visiting the area in Tokyo, famous for its electronics. He and Kaz had a wonderful time going in and out of all the stores with electronic marvels and deals that dazzled the eyes. We have decided that the next time we go up there, Kazumi and I are going to go to the zoo while Kaz and Jeff come back to visit the stores.

We went to a 3 generation festival in Chiba. It was very much like a fair in the states with a few major differences.... For a start, the food included squid on a stick, octopus and chocolate covered bananas. They also had a large group of people doing "funny face dancing". They all wore different kinds of masks and danced around on the street. It was great to see!

The tatami room with a great view of the mountains. 

Front Room - opposite the kitchen area 

Kitchen/dining room 

Shopping & Driving

Shopping is cool here. The stores don’t really look very much different than in the US. They even have a 100 yen store – with a much better quality of junk in them. Jeff had wanted a wine glass and they were running ¥800 to ¥1000 ($8 to $10) each everywhere else. The ones in the store were of pretty good quality and he’s delighted. Since we still need more gadgets, we’ll probably be back there on numerous occasions. The shops don’t use large shopping carts the way we do. They use the hand carried baskets and if you don’t want to carry it, there are small carts that you can put the little basket on. It works great. When you check out, they put the stuff into one of those baskets, put a bag on top, and then you go over to a table and pack your own stuff. Quite efficient. There’s also a little tray for the money to be put in. They leave it there until they give you the change. We had tried handing them the money and they really looked at us strangely.

It’s funny the way that the people just keep right on talking to us like we’re gong to suddenly understand them. American tend to just keep getting louder and louder, the Japanese tend to just keep saying it, still softly, but getting more nervous because we’re not responding. I only catch a word or two periodically – not enough for meaningful discussions of any sort. Oh well.

Driving is a trip here. We have a new mantra “to the left” that we repeat at every intersection – especially those pesky right hand turns. On the main roads it’s not too bad. There’s enough traffic to keep cars to follow and we do fine. It’s the little tiny roads that you’re driving down the middle of and then a car comes. The first inclination is to veer right and that’s when the mantra really takes over. There are also light and utility poles right in the street (on the sides). The white line actually goes around them in some cases. You have to pull over to the side to take turns with cars passing. It’s really crazy. Sure wish we had one of the narrower cars. We have a Camry and while it is nice, it’s wide compared to some of the new models here. They have some of the tiniest cars I’ve ever seen – even smaller than ones we saw in Ecuador. The drivers are very courteous and let people in. They do pull out at some crazy times but they count on people slowing down. It’s getting a little easier to get around. Mostly we just drive to school and one of the big stores that is farther away. The mall is on the bus route and there’s a grocery store 2 blocks away so we just walk over – much easier anyway and the parking lot is very tiny anyway. All of the people here back into the parking spots – at home and in the lots. You rarely see a car that just pulls into the spot. I think you could count on those being the gaijin!

News from Japan

Oh my gosh! We made it. The flight didn’t seem as long as it was until we hit Tokyo. That was when we realized how late it was – just about midnight. We went through all of the immigration and customs stuff and went through 3 more security checks, and then on to the next flight. It was impressive how quickly they moved a LONG line of people.
Charles Barton, headmaster, and John Gaylord, Elementary/MS principal, met us at the airport in Nagoya and took us to our home. We, of course, automatically stepped to the passenger side. Oh well….It was well after 3:00 am when we finally arrived at our house.

The house! It’s truly magnificent. After we had been warned on numerous occasions to “think small” and that there really wasn’t anything in the way of room in a Japanese house, we are positively in the lap of luxury! It’s fabulous. Here’s a description to go along with the pictures (yet to be posted). The carport is the smallest little carport you’ve ever seen – just barely wide enough for the car to fit (don’t even think about putting the van in it). If you’re not careful, one side or the other is completely blocked. We have a cool little gate that opens up to a concrete with small rocks path up to the front door on the left side of the house. The lawn is our front yard and it’s huge. It’s quite overgrown and what passes as grass here is actually a wide variety of weeds that are cut down to grass level with the smallest lawnmower you’ve ever seen (it’s about 1m wide at the most). Jeff has already planned his deck to wrap around the house to connect the two sliding glass doors that open up 30cm above the ground……..I’ll be happy just to get the weeds mowed down. The doorbell is actually on the gate out front. Visitors ring that and wait for you o respond rather than coming in directly. You get to use the phone to talk to them or invite them in - though it's quite useless when you don't speak Japanese.

The entrance has the lowered area for taking off your shoes and then stepping up to the house itself. Straight ahead is the kitchen/front room. It runs along the right side of the house. The kitchen is in the back of the house and the front room looks out over the yard.

Charles picked us up Tuesday and took us around to some stores for shopping (more about those later) and then up the NIS. I cannot believe this school is going to be ready for us to move into in 20 days! There’s so much left to be done. It is a very ambitious plan and the new renovations and space will allow for more students – though only about 50 at this point. There is a gigantic stack of boxes that are all of the books for the library – it almost fills a classroom. It will be a LOT of work to get them all on the shelves in some semblance of order. It will be interesting. The staff is really nice and they all speak English very well – a big help for us gaijin who can’t say much more than yes, no, excuse me and thank you. We’re looking for a class.

Stay tuned - more to come.