Japanese Word Boom (pdf)

Borrowed English Words(pdf)

Sites from my class buddies

Leo's Site

Mat's Site

May 2004

I'm sitting here in the airport looking at everyone, there are four ladies and a man sitting across from me. I'm listening to their conversation. I can pick up on the occasional word but I don't understand the conversation. I suddenly ask myself. ''What the hell am I doing here? Why on earth have I chosen to study Japanese?" I've always thought it was all those impressionable years in front of the television watching Godzilla movies. I'm not so sure now.

The flight was uneventful except for my wind filled stomach. Both breakfast and dinner had me running for the "otoire".

May 9

All flights were late. First Basel/Frankfurt, now Frankfurt/Kansai. I wrote to my host mother that I would be on this train or the previous. I could have caught the 9:12 but Japanese nationalism prevented this. The line for Japanese passport holders had 8 counters. Foreigners had two. After all the Japanese had gone through, they opened those desks for foreigners. Fortunately when I got to the baggage pickup, my pack was there.

I quickly headed to the JR office to buy my train ticket. I only had to cross 20 feet outside to the JR office but they were 20 breath taking feet. I opened the door to go outside and it hit me like a ton of bricks. Rain and humidity to kill. From the fire to the frying pan.

On a positive note, I'm sitting in the smoking section and no one is smoking. So for, so good. Maybe I spoke too soon.

So tired, I slept most of the four hours to Kanazawa but I did manage to see a bit of the countryside. Quite a different picture this trip, instead of all the fully gown rice fields, now there are fields filled with little clumps of rice seedlings.

Made it to the host family in one piece despite the fact that the taxi drive didn't know where he was going and had to phone.

I'm staying in the suburbs. The house is quite nice and the family is really nice. They have 2 sons my age and 3 grand children, a super cute little girl and 2 very energetic boys about my nephew's age, 7. The only negative thing about this house is that it is located too close to a train line and a rice field (mosquitoes).

As Sunday was Mother's Day, the family went out for sushi. Yummy! You would not have been able to convince a blind person they were eating raw fish. It was so delicious and it could not have been any fresher. Right behind the cooking area there was a pond. The sushi chef just grabbed his net, fished one out and five minutes later it was on your plate.

Some of the fish on the conveyer looked like steak but I left it and so did most people that night, along with a few other unusual things. There was one sushi roll that looked good except for this green blop on it. When I asked Mr. Sato, he said it was from the head of the fish. Gotta love instinct!

By 10:00 everyone was in bed!

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May 10

Mrs. Sato took me to school this morning. I could have probably managed on my own but it was quicker that way and I really appreciated it.

Test. I would have been better off if I had said beginner's class please. Two years of lessons and I'm in class two, the class for those who are not absolute beginners. There are six in my class but 15 in total in the school. On one hand I'm surprised, as I though there would be more students. On the other hand it's rather nice.

There are two rowdies in the school. One Ami and one Oz. Both under 12, ok 20. Five Swiss, two in my class along with the other Canadian from Thailand. I think it's a good group and I'm not the oldest. Three of the Swiss are over 45 then I'm next on the age scale.
We've only had one hour of lessons so far and it was about general words for getting on in the family.

I wanted to walk back to the host family's home today. Bad idea. It pissed. My new shoes are soaked all the way through and everything in my pack got wet. I wanted to go shopping or do anything. I just didn't want to go back before 18:00 but the rain. Now I know what it's like to be in a rain forest.

Mrs. Sato is out tonight but dinner's are usually between 19:00 and 20:00 as that is when Mr. Sato comes home.

Suddenly kuku clocks look good. My host family has a clock that plays music every hour. Unfortunately the clock reminds me of the traffic lights in Tokyo.

May 15

No matter what we do during the day, afterwards we go out for a drink. The clique is rather unusual. It consists of everyone in class except the married one and Leo. Leo is in the advance class but he prefers our company. Probably because the only other American, Mathew is in our class. There's one other Canadian, Frances, two Swiss, Jacque and Simone and one Philippina, Leslie. Everyone's names got japanacised except mines.

Tuesday we visited the local Castle and the Museum of Traditional Products and Crafts. The Castle was ok but I've seen enough of them already. The museum was a bad idea. It gave me lots of ideas of things I want to buy.

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Wednesday we had a cooking lesson. Actually, everything was already prepared for us so all we had to do was batter up the vegies and deep-fry it for the tempura. We made rice balls called Onigiri. In the middle of the onigiri was a sour plumb (umeboshi) or a piece of shredded fish. We also made some clear soup. The soup was ok but not an experience I need to repeat.

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Friday night we had Kareoke. Defnately not my thing but it was fun because we all sang together. Some of the brave teachers came along with us.

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The public transportation system is not the greatest. The last bus leaving the downtown area back to Nomachi train station is at 10:38 so after that the only way to get back to the host family is by taxi, which is not cheap.

I'm trying to have a stamp made for my name. It's a bit complicated. Japanese have various nuisances of joy so it's not so easy to get correct one. The symbol I have been using means joy but it's not pronounced that way. Maybe I should have had her look up the meaning for the sound Joy.

I'm sitting waiting for an open-air production to start. Let's see if anyone sits next to me. On my first trip no one would sit next to me on the trains. I thought it was because I was the wrong shade of … tan but I met an Anglo-Ami and he said he had the same experiences.


I was suppose to meet Mato (Matt) and Resuri(Lesli) e at 10:30 because we wanted to go to the Otabi Festival (children Kabuki) in Komatsu together. The train left Kanazawa at 10:38 so I either missed them or they decided not to go. That pissed me, as I would have preferred to go at 3:00 when the parade started and get in some more tourist things.

Unless it starts to rain, something should be starting in 10 minutes. I have a program but I'm not quite sure about it. I'm so tired I keep falling asleep while writing this.

Nothing happened. After waiting two hours, I left. I may now have to pay to see a Kabuki. I now wonder why the school recommended it.

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May 17

Yesterday we were supposed to go rice planting. When I got up at 6:50, it was raining. When at 7:45 it was still raining, I decided I was not going. Every 15 minutes the phone kept ringing but after the last time I picked up the phone and couldn't understand a word, I vowed never to touch that phone again. It turned out that it was the school trying to reach me to say it was cancelled.
Around 13:00 the rain stopped so I braved a trip outside. 30 minutes later, it started again. I tried to go back to the Kenroku-en garden but I wasn't prepared to pay money to see a park in the rain.

After classes on Monday I visited the Higashiyama Geisha district with Leslie. Fortunately it didn't rain constantly but as usual I got lost however we ended up walking alongside the Asangowa River which was very pretty. As I was about to take my picture, a girlie wearing a Yukata and holding a traditional paper umbrella stepped into the frame.

We visited the Sakuda gold and silver leaf shop. There were lots of really beautiful but expensive things there.

Afterwards, as usual we had a "Famille" meeting.

May 18

Today we went to the Gyokusen-en. A smaller garden area below Kanazawa Castle. After my dismal attempt to visit the castle's garden on Sunday, I now know the area like the back of my hand.

In the garden we went to one of the houses for Sodo, a tea ceremony. Though not one of my favourite activities I thought I'd try it again. I'm now completely convinced I never want to do that again. Don't get me wrong it's not a horrible experience. I'm sure I'll enjoy it when I'm old and want to enjoy the slower things in life.

A tea ceremony is like a ritual where you force yourself to slow down and experience time in seconds instead of hours. The tea lady comes out dressed in a very beautiful Yukata. She takes each utensils and wipes them in a very ritualistic way. We were told this is practiced hundreds of times until they get it right. They actually go to classes to learn this. These ladies are experts. They can look at a teacup and tell you where it comes from and who the designer is.

Just as the tea ladies are very ritualistic in performing the tea ceremony the guests also have a few rituals imposed on them. Before taking the teacup they have to say (Transl.) I will drink before you. They are given the bowl with the design facing them. As one wants to keep that side looking pretty, one has to rotate the bowl until the design is facing away from the drinker, after drinking you wipe the edge, rotate again, etc, etc. Maybe that's the other way around. I can't remember.

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May 20

I'm sick to death of rain. My camera ate most of the pics I took when I visited the Geisha district. I will try and go back next week.

I had the teacher arrange for a group of us to go and visit the Myoryuji temple also known as the "Ninja-dera". It was very interesting. The building is riddled with hidden walls, secret passages, and trap stairs. Though the building appears to have two-stories, it actually has four. There are 23 rooms and 29 staircases. One of the rooms was constructed specifically for seppuka (hari-kari) ritual suicide. There is even a tunnel that leads to the local castle, which is 10-15km away.

May 22

Today I went to Mikawa to see one of the local festivals Okaeri-matsui. It was a boy drumming festival. The boys sat in floats and banged on the drums. Eventually the floats were pulled around town. This time I definitely felt like a participant and not a spectator.

We were taken to all the spots where something was happening and one of the guys introduced us to his son Shun. Very nice guy. He spent some time in Boston and could speak a bit of English. He became our official tour guide that evening.

Most of the guys at the festival tried to use the few English words they knew. It was so sweet.

We were invited to someone's house for nibbles but by the time we started eating, the photo session started and all I had were two bites.

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Leslie's host mom is a cooking teacher and invited us for dinner first. Her host parents are very involved in helping foreigners to get more out of their Japan experience. I think that's so great. Leslie wrote a paper about her experience.

Afterwards, I got a ride home. Either there was something he knew that I didn't or he was curious about my host family. Either way I was grateful as everyone else had to take the train home.

May 23

At long last, a trip out of the city today. We visited the Noto peninsular. The weather could not have been better. Punctually at 9:00 six of my class buddies and our "school mother" left the school. One of the guys had brought his wife along. Though we were not a lot of people we ended up with a huge bus.

Our first stop was at Chirihama, a town with an 8km long beach where cars and buses can drive along. Though it is suppose to be popular for swimming I had to wonder about all the garbage strewn along the banks. At first we thought my god the Japanese are messy but we were told that the garbage comes in on the tide from North Korea. Go figure eh?

From there we headed off to visit Keta Taisha Shinto Shrine. It's the largest shrine in northern Ishikawa. Ishikawa is the name of the Kanton/Province. The city I am staying is the capital Kanazawa.

Our drive continued along the rocky coast for 30km with a wonderful view of spectacular landscape and rock formations shaped by natural erosion and rough seas. At Gannon, we stopped for lunch. First we had a little tour, (bloody hike) to look at the area. We walked down a flight of stair to get an up close view of one of those rock formations shaped by volcanic activity. It was impressive.

After a short walk through a dripping cave and up a few flight of stairs we ended up walking directly on the rocks. The rocks were very dark. All I could think about was the Gozilla movies I saw where Gozilla comes out of the ocean and I sort of expected to see him at any moment.

In some of the shallow ponds we saw jellyfishes. So cute, so dangerous. I know when not to touch. Little did I know what lay ahead. Yet another flight of (*^&%$) stairs. Somehow I finally made it to the top without my blood pressure beating out something from a drumming contest and the view was spectacular.

Afterwards we headed back to the souvenir/coffeeshop for lunch but first. We though we'd have a little appetizer. Everywhere in the shop were little containers with samples for the buyers. We helped ourselves. Most of it was very delicious but very dangerous. You could only buy so much.

Yet another temple lay ahead of us. We visited the Sojiji Buddhist Zen temple. This temple used to be the head temple of the Soto-sect of Zen Buddhism from 1321 until the early 20th century. This temple is not the original as that burnt down in the late 1800s. This was however, one of the temples where you could stay overnight and participate in the early morning Zazen meditation. I'll keep that in mind for my next trip.

No getting out of the Onsen experience now. We're on our way to a traditional Royokan hotel. There are also Onsens (hot springs) on the premises. We have been booked in for the experience. The Royokan was much nicer than the ones I stayed at when I first toured Japan. Then again. I paid ¥4,500 a night this Royokan was ¥20,000 a night but that included service personnel who would bring your meal and stay and serve you in the room. They would also turn out the beds/foutons for you. In winter they prepared the sunken seated area. Instead of sitting on your leggs, as is the tradition, this area was heated so and you sat and your legs would get nice and warm.

The Onsen was different to what I'm used to in Switzerland. First you have to shower and wash yourself all over. As I was having trouble reaching my back, one of the ladies came over, and scrubbed my back for me. Well folks, you know my crazy mind. The first thing I though was 'hey sister, the black does not come off'. Then I thought, that's real nice of her. She was a big girl too so she probably can't reach her back either. I then went over and scrubbed the backs of the other 3 girls in my group. Boy am I glad I've had years of conditioning living in Europe and having to walk around buck naked in saunas. Just watching the Mexican, Philipina and Tiwanese-Canadian trying to cover up all over almost made me want to laugh.

After the Onsen, we got back on the bus. We managed to stay awake for the visit to Wajima-muri lacquerware factory. The products were absolutely beautiful but the technique and process that went into it is extremely labour intensive. A bowl can take up to 124 steps from the rough cutting of a bowl to the painted design. All of which is done by hand. Needless to say quality is not cheap.

It was now time to return to school and everyone woke up half-hour before we reached Kanazawa. I sometimes wonder how bus drivers do it. We did get to watch a bit of the sumo wrestling in between. When that was over we watched a bit of Japanese pop videos.

Our "host mother" was telling us that her parents don't like modern Japanese music because it doesn't make any sense. I completely understood what they meant. It was as if they wrote the text in Japanese and went to one of those translation sites and let the computer do the translation. It was nothing but a lot of words thrown together that rhymed but had absolutely no meaning, or message.

When we got back to school I had to wait half hour for the bus. Waiting at the bus stop was uncomfortable, as it was pretty windy so I thought I'd keep moving and walked back to the train station. Good idea only one problem. Which bay do I catch my bus at? I'll have to use my Japanese now to ask for information. <shudder, shudder>

Slide Show

May 28

Thursday we visited Minami Kodatsuno, an elementary school. It was definitely an experience. when we entered the building we had to remove our street shoes and slip into house slippers. The children around us were also doing this but they have their own shoes they brought from home which they left at school. Three of us were placed in a classroom of 2nd graders. They kids were very excited, especially since there were four rows and only three of us.

The classroom was interesting. There were 40 students sitting in boy girl pairs. They use the fact that boys and girls at that age don't like each other so they don't talk in class.

The first thing on our agenda was cooking lessons. My class was making sweets and we had to observe. Seven-year-olds using gas stoves were scary but there were no accidents.

To make the candy, they had been herb collecting in the woods the day before. The sweets we very delicious. I hope the recipe is in one of the cookbooks I bought.

After the cooking class we went back to the classroom for the comprehension lesson. I could following what was going on but not what was being said. When they teacher gave them some work to do, we also received the handout. There I was in a room full of seven-year olds. All of them reading away at the comprehension book and doing the written work and me fighting with the handout. In an act of desperation I had to ask the child closest to me what sound the Kanji's made that I didn't understand. Thank god I'm shameless.

Afterwards they had lunch, then recess. Lunch was simple but delicious. Only problem was the portion. Lunch still managed to be an experience. You lined up, grabbed a tray and had your meal served to you by your fellow second graders all wearing aprons, plastic gloves and nose-mouth masks for those with colds or whatever.

After lunch you lined up again and sorted you dishes by size and the garbage by type. You even sorted the straw from its plastic wrapper. Before they leave for recess though, they had to clean the room. This involved getting on your hands and knees and individually picking up each piece of paper, etc.

It's not that bad though, four kids are picked each day to do this and in the second grade it's not so bad. The last year has it worse. They have to sweep the stairwell and clean the bathroom.

As usual, I got the monster child. He perceived me as a monsters in one of the comics he watches. And of course monsters have to be destroyed so I got all the ''kill the monster" hand signs. Let's reflect on this for a moment.

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Today was the Kimino clothing experience. I've already bought one so I gave that a miss. Actually, I had to have it made. They don't have gaijin sizes on the shelves. For the sake of accuracy, a Kimino is worn in the winter. In the summer ones wears a lighter version called a Yukatta. I won't even get into the story about the shoes except that I didn't get one.
Sayonara

(This page was prepared specifically for Eurocentre, Kanazawa, and is the story of my personal experiences during my stay in Japan. Though your experience will not be exactly as mines, I totally recommend studying with Eurocentre Kanazawa.)

© J. Bär, 2004