Shimonoseki and Fuji

It was great to be back at Shinozaki all this week! My week days were pretty uneventful, but being back at my old base school has been fantastic. On Friday I went with Leah and Patrick to Caol's house for a dinner party. It was a really fun way to close out the week and we had some delicious food!

On Saturday I took the train to Mojiko to meet Megan. We caught a ferry over to Shimonoseki where we went to the fish market and walked around the wharf. There was a festival going on while we were there and we could see different performances going on. There was even an inflatable puffer fish bouncy house! It was pretty cool to see it all, but after a few hours we decided to head back on the ferry to Mojiko. Before heading back to Kokura, we walked a bit around Mojiko and found a huge market with over 100 tents set up along the waterfront selling pretty much everything. They had hand-made crafts, furniture, food, plants, and even collectibles. We walked around and had a late lunch while looking at everything that was being offered. We didn't really get much, but it was a really fun way to spend an afternoon. We caught a train back to Kokura in the evening and had some bubble tea before each heading home. I ended up going back to to meet Juha, Kyoka, Dan, and Leah for dinner. I hadn't seen Dan in a while, so it was great catching up with him. We met Patrick at karaoke after dinner, but I headed home after that.

I met Fumiko and Dave Sunday morning to go to the Kawachi Fuji Garden. We bought some food for lunch on the way and caught a bus as far as it would take us. The weather was beautiful, so we decided to walk the mile and a half from the bus stop to the gardens rather than take a taxi. I hadn't seen Dave or Fumiko in a while, so it was great catching up with them. We had a great time at the garden even though the wisteria wasn't fully in bloom yet. We had a picnic lunch and stayed in the garden for a few hours before heading back into Kokura. I went back to Fumiko and Dave's apartment with them to play some games and watch movies. Leah eventually joined us and we decided to all have dinner together. Fumiko wanted to use her new takoyaki pan, so we all took turns making takoyaki while snaking on some Kitakyushu senbei. We watched some more movies before Leah and I headed home.

It was a busy weekend, but really fun! I'll go back to the Fuji Garden again on Wednesday with Leah since we have no work due to a national holiday. Golden week is also just around the corner and next Saturday I'll be in Ehime with Juha, Kyoko, and Caol! And then a week from next Saturday I'll be off to Korea with Megan! With all the traveling I'm not sure when my next update will be, but I'll post again as soon as I can!

Golden Week

Sorry this post isn't going up on Monday like it normally does. Last week was the Golden Week holiday in Japan. So I had last Tuesday off (4/29) as well as this Monday and Tuesday (5/5 & 5/6). I had a nice relaxing break and although I didn't get much traveling done, it's a huge traveling week in Japan and is usually a very expensive and crowded time to travel, I had a great time!

On Tuesday I started my vacation with a trip to the 河内藤園 (Kawachi Fuji en, Kawachi Wisteria Garden). I went with Leah to Yahata station where we met up with some more friends of ours. We caught a free shuttle to the gardens and spent the day walking through tunnels of wisteria and admiring the flowers up close. It was not quite fully bloomed when we were there, but it was still breathtakingly beautiful. It was a great start to the vacation and was incredibly relaxing and fun to walk through these gorgeous gardens.

We continued our relaxing day by spending an hour at the onsen, hot springs. There was an onsen close to the gardens, so we walked the short distance between the two. I have only been to some smaller onsens since arriving in Japan, but this onsen was huge! I don't know about the boys area, but the girls had about thirty shower heads for before the baths, two large indoor baths, an outside bath with a small alcove area, a steam sauna, and a heated wood rest area that could fit about ten people laying down. It was a bit chilly out, but we all opted for the outdoor bath. We became so relaxed on the rocks that we almost lost track of time. We had to dry of and get dressed again very quickly so as not to be late! We finished the day by going out to dinner in Kurosaki. Masato, Leah's boyfriend, gave us all a ride home and it was a great start to the week!

Although Golden Week is normally a consecutive holiday, this week the days fell slightly differently. Although I had a vacation Tuesday, I had school again for the rest of the week. I'm still visiting various schools, but thankfully this week I've been in Minami Kokura. It's not so far from my apartment, so I'm able to bike to and from school. It's only about fifteen minutes each way and I pass a Trial (a large discount store kind of similar to target but with a full grocery store as well), so it's great for grocery shopping on the way home! Despite my convenient placement, I was eager for the weekend. This weekend, as I said before, was a four day weekend with Monday and Tuesday off as holidays. It was a great long weekend!

On Saturday I met my friend Emily in Mojiko. Despite the crowds, we were able to get on a ferry rather quickly and were able to cross the bay and land in Shimonoseki within fifteen minutes. Although Saturday (5/3) was 憲法記念日 (Kenpou Kinenbi, Constitution Memorial Day) in Japan, the festivals in Shimonoseki were a weekend long celebration of こどもの日 (Kodomo No Hi, Children's Day), a holiday that fell on Monday (5/5). Shimonoseki was proudly flying fugu and koi fish flags. Koi fish flags are the traditional decorations always flown on Children's Day. There was a boat parade as well as performances from various school groups and Emily and I had so much fun! We of course visited 唐戸市場 (Karato Ichiba), the fish market. Since it's become Spring, the top of the market is now open. There is a field of real grass on top of the building where Emily and I had a sushi picnic, watched the boat parade, and generally enjoyed the sun. We eventually went back down to the wharf for ice cream and to catch a ferry back to Mojiko. After taking a train back to Kokura, we met up with Juha and Kyoko for dinner and drinks. I ended up meeting Dave, Patrick, and Fumiko at Dave's apartment for video games.

Sunday I had a relaxing day at home. I left my balcony door open all day for some fresh air and did some Spring cleaning. I scrubbed and washed every inch of my apartment. I biked to the grocery store and 100円 shop for some things I was missing around the house. It was the first time I bought exactly enough stuff to fit perfectly into my bike basked. Usually I miscalculate and either have room so my groceries bounce around or I have an extra bag I have to hang off the handle bars. Sunday, though, everything fit exactly without having to squish anything or put anything heavy on top of the eggs. It seems kind of trivial, but trust me is was incredibly satisfying. On my way home and I stopped to grab some flowers for my newly cleaned apartment. It was a relaxing, but very productive day. That night my friends Kikumi and Junko came over for dinner. Kikumi brought some ingredients for hand made gyoza and spring rolls. I'm excited to start learning how to cook more Asian food!

Monday was also uneventful. I relaxed at home in the morning and met Caol in the afternoon. We stayed outside in the afternoon enjoying the day before going to Booties for dinner. Booties is a popular Irish pub in Kitakyushu that is known for its fish and chips. They use ふぐ (fugu, puffer fish) for the fish since puffer is a very famous food in the area (although mostly famous in Shimonoseki). Caol, being from Ireland, is pretty picky about the food and Guinness there, but he loves the fish and chips there. After dinner we went to karaoke and sang the night away.

Tuesday, the last day of my holiday, I spent with Leah. We met for lunch at an udon restaurant down the street and talked for hours. She had gone to Busan, Korea for a few days and said it was packed! Although Korea doesn't have a Golden Week like Japan does, they still had a long weekend. She said she rode the most crowded bus of her life there, but still had a great time.

Next year for Golden Week I will try and make more plans. Hopefully the days line up better as well. Despite not going on a big trip I still had a great, and much needed, relaxing time. The relaxation will continue this weekend. Leah's friend Ryo has a house in Oita with a private onsen. I have many friends in common with them, so I was also invited. We will drive down and spend the night! The next day I'll head back to Kitakyushu to meet Juha, Kyoko, and some other friends for an 梅酒 (umeshu, plum wine) tasting. I can't wait!

下関

Hello!

I'm sorry! I know I have not been updating as regularly. I didn't have a very exciting last two weeks, but this month should be better! This coming weekend I have a game day in Fukuoka, the next weekend is my birthday (as well as Leah's) and we have a lot planned, and the third weekend is Korea for my friend's wedding!

Despite my lack of excitement, I did have a great day on Sunday! I met two of my friends, Dave and Fumiko, at the train station and we took the 15 minutes ride to 下関 (Shimonoseki). 下関 is a city located on the southern most tip of Honshu, the biggest island of Japan. 下関 is very famous for ふぐ (fugu, pufferfish) and there is a beautiful warf I had been to only twice before. the weather was perfect, although not at all what I normally experience on the second day in February. It was in in the 50's and the sun was peaking through clouds. We walked along the warf until we came to 唐戸市場 (karato ichiba), the fish market there. We walked around tasting different foods for a while. We eventually settled on a few different plates to split for lunch, including some giant sushi. We brought our food back outside and found a bench to sit and eat on next to the water. There were performers outside and we sat in between a band and a magician.

After having lunch, we grabbed some ice cream and found a nice spot to sit and overlook the water. A lot of people were fishing and we even saw a couple doing a wedding shoot by a small light house! We decided that although we were ready to head home, we didn't want to get back on the train just yet. So we caught a ferry over to 門司港 (Mojiko), the northern most point of Kyushu island where I live. Shimonoseki and Mojiko are very close and the ferry ride only took five minutes, but sitting on top of the small boat on such a nice day was a great way to travel.

We took a train back from Mojiko and did some shopping. We went to Kaldi, an imported food store, and a fish pet store. Dave has a fish tank and wanted some shrimp to put in it. The store was incredible! It had tons of different types of fish and even had a small sting ray! It had turtles and frogs and even a few non-fish pets including a hedgehog! It was really cool to look around and reminded me of being back at Hofstra and going to the fish stores with my friend Reid. We spent over an hour looking at everything in the store and had a lot of fun! We caught a bus back to Dave's apartment when we finished and made some dinner. All in all it was a great day!

Today, February 3rd, is 節分 (Setsubun), a bean throwing festival in Japan that is preparation for Spring. Beans are thrown out the door of your house. Sometimes fathers will dress up like an Oni, Japanese demon, and children will throw beans at him instead. People can also say, 「鬼は外! 福は内!」(Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!, Demons out! Luck in!)while throwing the beans. For school lunch today I had some roasted soy beans and was also given beans by some of my coworkers. Some of the beans were even coated in frosted sugar! The packages all these came in had cartoon Oni on them and some said 「鬼は外! 福は内!」. Traditionally roasted soy beans are used for tossing, but more recently peanuts still in their shell have been used since the beans are sometimes eaten after being thrown. I would rather have a peanut from the floor than a soybean from the floor!

Another thing going on now is the private high school entrance exams. This week my 三年生 (sannensei, third year students) are taking their High School Entrance Exams. In Japan, students don't go to high school by district like we do in America. Instead, they take a test during their last year of middle school and based on that test they are accepted or rejected from different high schools in the area. They are testing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. This exam is for private high schools and they will take another test in March for the public high schools. I'm wishing all my students a lot of luck during their exams!

Mike's Visit!

This week I was very excited to have Mike come and visit me! I had work, but we still managed to get out and do a lot of things!

Mike arrived in Fukuoka Airport on Monday, November 4^th around 10 P.M. I left Kitakyushu after dinner to meet him at the airport. He’d been on two planes traveling for almost eighteen hours, but we still had to take the subway to Hakata station and then a train back to Kitakyushu. We got back to my apartment a little after midnight and almost immediately fell asleep.

On Tuesday my school had the day off as a substitution day for Saturday, when I went to school during culture festival, so I took Mike around the city. We started by walking along the monorail to Kokura station, then walked though Uemachi (an arcade next to Kokura station with many shops, restaurants, and game stations) to get to Kokura Castle and Riverwalk. We had lunch at Riverwalk and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Riverwalk and Uemachi. We had dinner at Booties with Caol and Patrick where Mike triedふぐ (fugu, puffer fish) for the first time.

Wednesday I had work, but it was a BoE meeting day. On meeting days I leave work early to head over to my Board of Education in Kitakyushu. Since last week I was at Shinozaki (my closer school), I had enough time to meet Mike for lunch before heading to my meeting. I was really excited about this meeting because we finally got our business cards! After the meeting I met back up with Mike and we went to Habit, a burger place many of us go after our BoE meetings. We were joined by Patrick, Leah, and Juha at the restaurant and afterwards went back to Juha’s apartment to play board games.

Thursday I was at work again, but Mike had some fun exploring Kokura a little more. He went to Cha Cha Town (so named because the Kitakyushu accent often puts “cha” at the end of sentences) and had sushi for lunch. He also went to Aru Aru City, a big mall behind Kokura station designated to everything anime. After work, Mike and I rode the monorail to Kokura station. I needed to meet Patrick to finalize our trip to Tokyo for Christmas and Mike wanted to look at all the stalls set up in the station selling lots of different food and even some clothes and jewelry. Going to the travel agency with Patrick didn’t take long, so Mike and I met up with Juha and Kyoko at 鉄なべ (tetsunabe), one of my favorite restaurants in Kitakyushu.

Friday, again I had work. Mike said he didn’t go out much, I think he slept most of the day since he didn’t get much of a chance to sleep off his jet lag when he first arrived. He did go out to Tanga market. Tanga market is a street full of fish shops one stop down on the monorail (or about a fifteen minute walk) from my apartment. Mike got some delicious たこ焼 (takoyaki, fried octopus) there for lunch. He also brought some fish and vegetables home, which we made for dinner when I got home from work.

Friday night we went out since Mike had never seen the Kokura nightlife before. We met Leah and Caol for drinks, then we all headed to karaoke. Leah and Caol went home after karaoke, but my friend Vixay was DJing at Orange Door for the night and I had said we’d stop by to see him. At Orange Door, Mike and I ran into Juha and Kyoko who were also there to see Vixay. We sat with Juha and Kyoko for a while before heading home.

Saturday we had a very quiet day. We mostly stayed in and played games. We did treat ourselves to a fancy dinner at a restaurant Juha had suggested the night before. I’m not sure of the name (Juha didn’t know the name either, just gave us vague directions), but it was a very nice焼肉 (yakiniku) restaurant. Yakiniku is kind of like BBQ, you get various meats, seafood, and vegetables that you grill at your table. The place we went was small, but the food was incredible!

Sunday we ventured outside of Kitakyushu. We first went up to Shimonoseki for its famous Karato Ichiba fish market. This market is huge and has almost any kind of fish you could want. Puffer fish is the specialty in Shimonoseki, so almost ever stand had it. We tried as many kind of fish as we could! My favorite was トロ (toro, fatty tuna/tuna belly). I see it a lot on American sushi menus, but with limited availably and I’ve never seen it actually available. It is considered by many one of the best sushi ingredients, but there is not much toro on each tuna, so it can be hard to come by. I can’t wait to go back sometime to have more!

We walked down the wharf after leaving the market, but it started to rain so we hopped on a bus and headed back towards the train station. We decided to head into Fukuoka since Mike didn’t get a chance to see it other than through his plane window. We walked around Hakata for a while looking at the shops.
Eventually we headed to the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum. They have an exhibit going on until January of Studio Ghibli cells and layout designs. There were even some TVs set up next to the layouts showing you exactly how the transition from layout to film occurred. At the end of the exhibit everyone was given a little circle sticker and a black pen. We were told to draw anything we wanted and stick it on the wall. Everything about the exhibit was amazing!

We walked back to the train station after the museum, stopping at a few shrines along the way. We got ramen for dinner and then headed up to the 8^th floor of Amu Plaza in the train station to find the Pokémon Center. We had a lot of fun playing the games and looking around. There was a big event going on because a new pack of cards had just been released, so we picked up a few packs as souvenirs. We shopped around a bit more in the mall before heading home.

Mike got on a plane Monday morning that left at 7:20 A.M. and he’s back in New York. I hope he can visit again soon!