Ichi-go Ichi-e

Hello lovelies,

What is that? You say that it`s already February and the the year is no longer new!? Too bad!

I`d like to try blogging more. Not going to lie, my new found social life has made it difficult to for me to keep up with this blog as I spend roughly one evening a week at home.

I`m going to finish and post an entry I started back in October! I was going to let it die, but I decided it was quite cute and there are a few events I`d like to chronicle from the previous year – such as Halloween, mushroom-picking, tea ceremony, my birthday, my new friends, etc. Though sometimes playing catch up is troublesome so it might be worth it to just start from the present.

Yesterday I bought a snowboard, boots and bindings. While I was in Canada, I tried snowboarding twice. The first time was a failure due to shoddy rental gear and an instructor whose methods didn`t work for a physical failure like myself. The second time, however, I went with Josh and Fumble and successfully made it down the hill many-a-time! Anyways – this weekend, I`m going to Niseko with some friends from a bar I hang out at – namely, Hiroshi who planned the whole thing, Duncan and Kiwi Josh – the rest are a mystery, but I suspect I know them.

Since returning from Canada, I had a hard time getting back in my Japanese life. I was fairly depressed that I was missing out on all the fun being had by people I really miss but you sort of…forget? Or maybe that knowledge just pushes itself back in your mind – I`m not sure.

Though, I`m better now. I`ve started hanging out with all my friends over here again slowly and getting back into my routine (with difficulty). Izumi, Duncan, Hiromi (Izumi`s kickass sister – she`s my lady soul mate), Kiwi Josh, Jen and Andy have all made my transition back into life here easier. I have however, been skipping the gym a lot and after gaining all the weight I gained in Canada, I really shouldn`t be. February is always that terrible month where I give up life (because it`s cold!)

For Christmas, I received a nice new camera. I`m teaching myself how to use it and once I have the internet at home again (long story – but ISPs suck everywhere ever) I will upload some of them and see how they turn out. I don`t have an eye for photography yet – but I think I`m getting better!

What else!? Oh, regretfully I turned down the chance to do yosakoi. I came to the grim realization that yosakoi busy season is when I`d like to travel. Rather than feeling guilty about skipping these events – I`d rather not do it at all. Maybe next year once I`m a bit more settled.

What else!? Nope, I think that`s it. I`ve been playing Fallout: New Vegas but you don`t want to hear about that!

Oh! I will tell you that I tried Soup Curry for the first time and fell deeply in love. I will marry it. Oh, and I found decent pizza. Wait, this is why I`m fat :P

I will try to provide at least monthly updates from now on! My next one should be about my snowboarding trip I hope! Or the catch-up entry. It`ll be a surprise.

So long friend!

This isn’t really related to my adventures in Japan…but it’s pretty cool.

I mean, who sat there and thought “Both of these are awesome – let’s put them together”? Because I want to meet that person and give them a high five! It’s like the moment I decided that dipping chocolate-chip Teddy Grahams into a container of vanilla icing was a good idea (it was…until the tummy ache and sugar crash).

Sorry sorry, my updates have become fewer and far between! I`ve started to fall into a routine here and I forget that ponderings and events that may seem boring to me, may be a bit more interesting for my family and friends. (Also, my last post is near a month old and I haven`t even added the pictures yet!)

Probably the biggest culprit in my blog-neglect is my Kindle. This is going to sound like a shameless plug – but I honestly thought I could never make a full switch from paperbacks to e-book. Though I love the smell and aesthetics of an expansive library - I love the protability and ease of a Kindle. I can buy books whenever I feel like it, most (but not all) are available (one way or another). I don`t even know how many books I`ve finished since I got it – but I definitely didn`t read this much in Canada.

A few events that stand out in the last month: (bullet-point style!)

• Picking mushrooms with Sumie – most of mine were poisonous. After we made pizza and feasted on a variety of delicious food. The whole experience was about 15 bucks. I used my mushrooms (the non-poisonous ones) to make a delicious pasta sauce.
• Going to a food/meat festival in Shiraoi – Ken, Yukie, Duncan and his girlfriend gorged on meat and onigiri. My town`s speciality is beef and the city next to us is famous for hockey – it`s like living in a Japanese Alberta. (Though…admittedly, I like Alberta beef a lot more.
• I bought a blanket for my kotatsu and set it up. Now I know that the best reason for anyone to come to Japan is to sit under a kotatsu. It`s a table with a heater underneath and blanket wedge between a support and the table top itself so it draps around to capture all that delicious heat. In my old house, it`s my most economical source of heat, I think.
• I joined a gym in the nearby city of Tomakomai. I`m really happy I did – it`s a nice way to relieve stress! The basic workout plan they set me on is not that difficult and fits nicely within an hour. Now I`m ready to move to stage 1 on Friday so I kind of hope it`s a bit harder (no pain, no gain!).

Time seems to pass by differently here – so I hoped I didn`t miss anything. Honestly, it feels like I just arrived here yesterday so it`s easy for me to forget that things like my blog need updating!

In other news, I`m excited for my package from the EB crew! I really need to get on the ball sending some items back to Canada – letters, post cards, etc.

Nerdiness to follow – Sorry!

Other than that, I`m still keeping up with my healthy game addiction! I`ve been playing Persona 3 Portable, Recettear (don`t even ask… it`s a silly game that sucks away my life for the past few nights), Civilization V, WoW occasionally. I need to pick up Dragon Quest IX again (before I forget what I was doing!)  and also play Okamiden (oh yeah, that came in the mail btw – it`s beautiful! I have the Chibiterasu keychain, celestial brush stylus and wolf paw earbuds! Yay for Japanese online exclusives!). Not to mention, Costume Quest comes out tonight – so as you can see, I still suffer from gaming ADD.

I miss D&D still, though I took it for granted in Canada and we were all kind of lazy at getting started up again. Then of course after I leave, Fumble and co. start a campaign. For shame! :P But I still tolerate you and will let you play with me when I get back.

I`ve gotten horrendously behind on my adventures in Japan, so I will do so now in one largish post.

My recent doings summed up in a handy dandy list!

Saturday, the 18th

A whole lot of nothing (I think)! I played more Tales of Monkey Island than I could shake a fist at. I mean, I really can`t remember this day at all – so it couldn`t have been eventful. Actually, I`ll consult twitter… twitter confirms that I had no life on Saturday the 18th.

Sunday, the 19th

I went to my first school festival at T Junior High school. My ninensei put on a stirring play about…something. There were five of them dressed up like Santa Claus, a girl whose father is sick and eventually dies. I had not idea what was going on. After that, I watched their chorus competition and a quiz show competition between the different grades.

I have to admit, I`m impressed with at how talented they were! When I was in junior high, I hadn`t a lick of skills that didn`t involve manoeuvring Cloud Strife or Link.

Afterwards, since it was on the way home, I went to Clipper in Hagino again. I thought sushi was delicious before! I don`t know how I`ll ever eat sushi in Edmonton ever again (I might have said this before). The tuna in Edmonton always has a sickly gray hue to it – but here, it was pink and tasty all over! The unagi was amazing! The scallop was pried from the shell before my eyes. It was a sushi-lovers heaven! Also, kaitenzushi is cheap and quick. I never spend more than $10 – eating maybe about 10 or so pieces each time.

Monday, the 20th

On the friday previous, Mama from my Friday night haunt, Hidechan, invited me to climb Tarumaesan with her and a friend. I was reassured that this was an easy climb so I happily agreed. Then she told me to be in Tomakomai by 7:00 am – meaning, I would have to wake up around 5:30 am – to which I happily agreed and then regretted (but later bacame to appreciate).

So, 6:40 am, I roll over to 7/11 for a Red Bull. I don`t partake in energy drinks or faffeine as much as I used to, being a full time game addict, so this definitely was a tasty treat. 6:50 am, I park outside of Hidechan and call Mama, who was surprised that I had made it, she was convinced I would sleep in or give up. Showed her!

My Red Bull and I!

We arrived at Tarumaesan and started climbing at approximately 8:00 am.

Mama’s friend, myself and Mama at the bottom

At 8:10 am, I decided I could end it now and leap off the side of the mountain. (I kid, I kid! The fall would have only made me terribly uncomfortable and I wasn`t eager to climb higher in order to end it properly :P)

Anyways, it was a difficult climb for me, but well worth it. I felt awesome when all was said and done. But I`m getting ahead of myself.

I promise there won’t be too many landscape shots – they get boring. That’s a lake!

We reached the peak of the mount – or so I thought. Tarumae is shaped quite oddly, being a volcano and stuff. So once you reach that peak, you can either turn around, or continue around the outside of the crater going up and down all the way – which we did.

We went to a shrine at the top – which Mama and her friend tried to determine if taking pictures of it was alright. Would it upset the mountain god? They decided it wouldn`t, I`m a foreigner afterall, so whatever power dictated that taking pictures of shrines was bad would understand that I don`t know any better – and then they also started taking pictures of the shrine.

Lesson 1: Associating with gaijin gives you their magical ability to smash.

Gaijin smash’d!

At first it was quite cloudy/smokey, but when we circled to the otherside of the crater, it began to clear up so we were able to see the dome in the center. It was really beautiful and awe-inspiring. From various point we could see the smoke escaping that smelt slightly like sulphur. You could also hear it rumbling like a giant kettle. Inwardly, I asked the volcano not to erupt as I munched on strawberry pocky for energy (seriously, where`s the trail mix? The Japanese love to use candy as an energy booster – not that I mind, I just know it`s not the best source of energy).

Rawr! I’m a volcano!

We reached the final peak on the east side of the mountain, overlooking lake Shikotsu and we ate onigiri and pickled vegetables provided by Mama. So delicious! As to be expected!

Clouds rolled in at an alarming pace and we thought nothing of it until really cold droplets of rain started to pour. We were actually inside the cloud that was raining and it was terribly cold. So we packed up, bundled up and headed downward – getting a little lost in the foggy cloudiness but then finding our way. By the time we made it back, I was pretty sure I had never been that wet in my entire life.  So we changed into dry, warm clothes, piled into the van and went to onsen. I don`t think an onsen can feel as good as it did after climbing a mountain. The entire trip around the mountain was 3.5/4 hours so all in all, I was home by 2 or 3 pm – after which, I played more Tales of Monkey Island and slept.

The end!

I had intended to catch up all the way, but I`m tired of writing and this has gotten too long! I`ll finish later!

Canada represent! I forgot to bring my flag to stake the ground and claim it my own – so I just waved my mitties around.

I have quite a few things I need to update (mountain climbing, mushroom picking, random culinary adventures), but one topic I wanted to cover was Japanese toilets. I pondered how I should tackle this, but conveniently, Ana did it for me (and definitely better). So here’s something to keep you occupied while shamelessly plugging her youtube channel. Win – win!

AnaTheSavageMuse @ Youtube

Also, a few other quick updates. Suzuki-san, the guuji from the Shiraoi shrine introduced me to 炎-Homura, a yosakoi group from Chitose (just on the opposite side of Tomakomai). Apparently, they have practices in Noboribetsu (quite close relative to my other options) and if I understood correctly – I can join them if I’d like. So I’m pretty darn excited!

炎-Homura performing at a dinner in Shiraoi (where I met them!)

炎-Homura @ the Sapporo Yosakoi Soran Festival by the looks of it.

I would also like to announce that until practices start up for Yosakoi, I’m going to get a membership to a gym in Tomakomai. What sold me is that starting in October, they will have belly dance lessons and any lesson they provide is included in the membership. So I’m hoping I can take that, maybe try beginner hip hop, try some yoga and most importantly, meet people with similar interests (dancing and stuff!). Yosakoi is hard work too, so I don’t want to be a complete failure when I join! I will also be continuing with badminton as much as I can too – I hope Tuesday I do better because lately I feel like my badminton skills took a big step back.

My Japanese the last few days has been utter garbage as well – but I’ve been feeling rather exhausted (not from work either, I think I’m having too much fun [and too many parentheses]). To remedy this, I’m taking the day off on Monday. My only plan is to transfer some money to Canada – but that aside, I’m going to sleep in and play Civilization V (I mean study Japanese!)

Lastly, I just want to point out that Japan has amazing delivery service! I was supposed to get my new credit in about ten business days – but I got it in three and on a Saturday. Why hasn’t Canada Post and co. figured out that people aren’t home during the day on a weekday?

This ended up being longer and more disjointed than I had planned.

My posts are becoming fewer and far between as I start to develop this fresh new social life (or what you would consider a social life for a gamer) – but don`t worry, I`ll try to write up one post a week.

Last Tuesday – I only had one class. This is not uncommon for me – a vast majority of my day is spent reading/studying/internetting but KJHS is such an accomodating school that they promptly decided to fill my time with shuuji or Japanese calligraphy. The first years (7th graders) would be spending two periods learning how to properly write the word glory – honestly, that wasn`t even enough time for one word, two characters.

My first try was too thin, the lines needed to be bolder – so I should press the brush against the paper without fear. As I copied the character over and over, different issues were brought to my attention. The balance was off, this line needed to curve more, I needed to hesitate at this point before hooking the ends, etc etc.

I loved it. If there`s one thing you should know about me, I love attention (surprise) – I love praise and constructive criticism. I love becoming better and better so I can receive more praise. Students in Japanese schools seem to be afraid of being corrected – but when I was their age, I loved it when a teacher would look over my shoulder to see what I was up to.  It`s the same in badminton when someone takes the time to show me how to swing properly, or how I should do my footwork. I want to become better, and I slowly am even though I sometimes forgot to raise my elbow higher or lead with my right rather than my left.

As for shuuji, I never perfected it – but it was a good experience all the same. I think my final attempt is on display for their school festival.

My long weekend adventures will be in a separate post!