I got up fairly early this morning and got a big laugh when I saw that every one of the hotel room doors had a newspaper tucked underneath – every one but mine. I guess they figured (correctly) that I wouldn’t be able to read it. If I was fluent I would go and complain, but it was just a funny example of being different in Japan.

I picked up breakfast from a convenience store across the street. They had a new flavor of Calpis, one of my old favorites. This one is called “Gun, Gun, Gun!”. What a cool name. It is like regular Calpis, only with more vitamins and sugar – kind of cancelling each other out.

Today I was planning on heading to Miyajima island, home of some big hikes, beautiful shrines, tame deer and who knows what else. All of my teachers had said that it was a must, so I figured, what the heck. To get there you need to take the train about 30 minutes southwest of Hiroshima.

At the train station you catch a ferry to the island. The weather was cloudy and cool – it was looking like bad news for photography, but good news for hiking. The ferry took a large group of us across the bay, passing row upon row of platforms for oysters, another thing that Hiroshima is famous for.

As we pulled up the island, everyone got off the ferry and almost ran to the right, towards the main shrine and food stalls. I took the hint and went the other way. According to my map, I could walk almost a quarter of the way around the island and then take a hiking path to the 1200 foot peak of Mt. Misen. From there, I would be able to go wherever I liked.

That turned out to be the best decision I made. I walked through tiny towns on the coast of the island, by a high school with kids playing baseball, buildings filled with women shucking oysters, and lots of deer looking for handouts.

I guess the island is famous for the tame deer. They sell food on the island that you can give to the deer. The deer come right up to you, and you can pet them, talk to them, ask them out for dinner, whatever you like. The first time I saw one come right up, it really threw me for a loop.

As I walked along the western shore of the island, these deer couldn’t believe their luck. They must have been wondering where the heck to find the ferry terminal and all those tourists, and then here comes one walking along without a care in the world. After spending my life watching deer run like hell when they see you, it sure was weird to see them run like hell towards you.

Their initial excitement turned to depression when they found out I wasn’t willing to share my lunch with them. The sulked around nibbling at leaves forlornly, while a few optimists followed me for almost a quarter mile. I didn’t give in, though. I was made of stone.

After almost an hour of hiking along the beach, I was ready to give up and admit defeat, when a sign appeared pointing up the mountain. For the next hour and a half I climbed up the mountain through jungle-like terrain, along a well maintained path. I could tell it wasn’t popular, I met no one along the way, and kept catching spider webs across the face. Finally I reached the top, completely socked in a fog bank. I’m sure the view was beautiful normally, but I just collapsed on a rock and rested for a while. My entire body was steaming, something that I had never seen happen before. Is that supposed to happen? Did I push it too hard?

I picked a trail down, and after a few minutes started to smell something like an electrical fire – that kind of strange burned smell that usually means it’s time to change a fuse. Then some loud metallic noises, and I walked right into the tram station. There was a line of people that looked alarmed at my appearance, and I guess I would be alarmed to see a large steaming foreigner walk out of the bushes disturbing the tranquility of the clanking tram station.

I realized quickly that I must have made a wrong turn somewhere, and walked around the tram station to the other side, and then jumped in line with another bunch of alarmed tourists. I was definitely the only one breathing hard and dripping with sweat. The tram operators did not seem to mind, and packed me into a tram with a group of four concerned people, sending me down the hill the easy way.

The tourists were quiet at first, probably not reassured by my smiles and nods. I quickly fogged up the tram, thus depriving everyone of the view going down. Talk about embarrassing. I’m sure each tram going up on the other side was wondering what was happening on our tram.

At the bottom I stumbled out, almost clocking myself on the roof as I stood up, and finally made it to the bottom of the steps. I took a quick few minutes to clean myself up a little, and then noticed on the sign that they wanted 1700 yen for a round trip on the tram. I had saved a bunch of money by hiking up – nice!

Directly below the tram station was a park filled with trees that were just starting to change color. The deer were here in force, looking for scraps from all the tourists. I took lots of pictures – the colors seemed so dramatic, and I’m half colorblind. Farther down the hill I stopped to pick up some omiyage for my coworkers. I splurged on some maple leaf flavored cakes, filled with some kind of sweet bean curd. Apparently, this is the omiyage to buy in Hiroshima, so I did. I should be a big hit at work on Tuesday.

I spent some time walking around hitting the touristy stuff that I had avoided initially. I took pictures of the five story pagoda. I also walked through the Itsukushima-jinja shrine, a shrine that stands on a bay that fills up when the tide comes in. At the time, the tide was only just coming in, so it was a shrine on a muddy bay when I went through. At the mouth of the bay was a giant gate to the shrine, and that got the most photographic attention.

After so many pictures, I felt like a nature walk and explored the eastern side of the island. I ran into a bunch of Japanese youngsters wearing uniforms that said “COSMO” on the front. They were probably first graders, and they were very friendly – we greated each other in each other’s language, and spent a lot of time giggling. The COSMOnaughts went off to chase some deer around, and I went past the depressing aquarium to buy beer and oysters at a shop on my way back.

The trip back was pretty easy, although you did have to walk by countless shops selling omiyage. I think I got the best deal up on the mountain, but I didn’t really pay that much attention. I hopped the ferry back and was back in Hiroshima that evening. I tried Chinese food at a small restaurant in one of the large shopping centers, and it tasted very similar to Japanese food.

I looked around at the imported goods section of Sogo, a big department store. I found Swiss Miss Cocoa, French’s Yellow Mustard, some hot sauce, Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies, some sloppy joe mix. There was a wine shop there, but I they didn’t carry any vintage Port. I’ve been craving it big time. They had a tawny port, but I’m not a big fan of tawny ports. They had a pretty good selection of California wines, but only expensive ones. Lots of French wines (only expensive ones) and a few Italian ones that looked good.

I spent the evening walking around the shopping district, trying to resist the urge to have a second dinner back at the okonomiyaki stands. At a big “lifestyle” store I found something amazing – they were selling Christmas lights. The big surprise – they wanted almost $60 for a strand of 100 lights. Sixty bucks???!?? Don’t those cost around $5 a strand in the States? I need to start a black market xmas light trade here. Come on, sixty bucks?

Back in my hotel room, I packed up for my trip back tomorrow, and then took a long soak in the deep tub. What a great way to relax.

Today I got up around seven and headed off to Kobe to catch a bus for Hiroshima. Just catching the bus was a minor victory – none of the signs were in English, and I had to deduce some Japanese kanji characters to figure out where to go. Once I was there, I just jumped on the correct bus and settled in for a four hour bus ride.

The bus ride was cheaper than the bullet train – the bus costs around $90 round trip, and the bullet train costs around $150 round trip. I had more time than money, so I picked the bus. We stopped about halfway in Okayama to hit the restrooms and grab some snacks, and at about 1:30 in the afternoon we pulled into Hiroshima.

Mr. Hayashi had drawn a map to the hotel, but the bus dropped me off at a different location, so I really had to wing it to find the place. Once again my katakana skills paid off, and I was able to read the sign and figure out the right place. The room was tiny – just a little bit longer than I am, but I did have a private bathroom with a nice deep bathtub and shower.

I freshened up and headed out the door, but as I walked by the registration counter, the guy working there had a minor fit and kind of freaked out. Apparently the protocol is to leave your room key at the desk while you are away, and pick it up again when you get back. Strange, but OK, no problem.

While on the long bus ride I had come up with a game plan for Hiroshima. First thing I did was head to the Peace Park to see the A-bomb dome and the museum. To get there, you had to walk through Honmachi arcade, a big shopping avenue.

Hiroshima is a big town, and like any big town, there are tons of shopping areas. It is an especially interesting contrast when you walk out of Honmachi and enter the Peace Park. From noise, commercialism, the beautiful and the cool, to such a natural setting – the Peace Park was quiet and busy at the same time.

There were numerous monuments throughout the park, some more dramtic than others. The best of the bunch were the Children’s Peace Monument, and the Memorial Cenotaph. The Children’s Peace Monument was surrounded by wreaths of origami paper cranes, and featured a child lifting an origami crane at the top. The Cenotaph was aligned with the A-bomb dome, the museum, and the Flame of Peace, which is supposed to remain lit as long as there are nuclear weapons still around.

After lots of pictures, I visited the museum, and spent about an hour looking through an overwhelming exhibit documenting the history of Hiroshima before, during, and after the atomic bomb hit on 1945. The exhibits were remarkably well documented, and there was never any obvious political bias that I noticed – it just reported the facts and made a strong case against nuclear weapons. You could touch bottles that had been melted from the heat of the blast, and the pictures and models were extremely well done.

After the museum I went over to the A-bomb dome. The dome refers to the shape of the last remaining building that remained standing after the bomb dropped. The building is twisted and gutted, and is reinforced now to keep it standing. I sat for a while next to the building on a bench and watched people walk by. It was weird to think that the bomb went off right over my head.

Afterwards, I headed back towards the hotel, and took a few pictures of Hiroshima castle, which, like everything else in town, was rebuilt after 1945. There was a flower show nearby, and the leaves were just starting to change colors. In keeping with my tradition of smiling and nodding at people I walk by, I met an old man riding by on his bike – he stopped when he saw me smile at him. We talked for a bit in English and Japanese, and it turns out that he was in the war at the time of the bomb, he was in the navy away fighting battles, and lost his entire family to the A-bomb blast. I didn’t know quite what to say, but he was friendly enough, and was more interested in Arnold as governor and the wildfires of California.

For dinner I had heard that the okonomiyaki in Hiroshima was famous in Japan, so I wanted to try it out. Okonomiyaki is like a Japanese pizza, just made a little differently. I had tried it out a couple of times in Japan, and it had made a great impression. According to my guidebook, there was a place downtown that had three floors of okonomiyaki stands, and so I followed the directions, and a half hour later I was bellying up to a stand that my guidebook said was the best in all of Hiroshima.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only gaijin that had the guidebook; the owner flipped me a menu in English before I finished sitting down. I picked a pretty spicy one – it had Chinese noodles, garlic, kimchee, an egg, sprouts, onions, bacon, three different sauces, and a tortilla like thing that sat on the bottom. The difference between Hiroshima style okonomiyaki is that in Hiroshima they create layers of ingredients, but everywhere else they mix it all up so that it is evenly distributed throughout. I definitely prefer the Hiroshima method.

After a couple of beers, and a new believer in my guidebook’s recommendations, I tried to track down a bar called Mac, listed in the guidebook as a “laidback bar”. It was located across the street, but I quickly got lost and ended up in the red light district. There were tons of American soldiers walking around, and hawkers outside the bars asking thought provoking questions like, “You wanna Japanese girlfriend?”

I gave up on Mac, and went instead for a beer at the yakitori across from my hotel. It seemed like a pretty quiet place, but there was weird vibe, so I went back to my room and planned for the next day. I was asleep by 10:00 p.m.

One of my part time teachers carved this for me and brought it in yesterday. Today I took it home and lit it up. As soon as I got home the phone rang, and it was Carrie wondering if I would meet her and a friend for dinner in Himeji. I decided to go ahead and meet them there, so it was back to the big city for me.

We ended up getting Chinese food and walking around for a while. I met her friend Carla, who is also a new JET, and we talked for a long time about our experiences in our schools and with our students. I’m definitely a lucky JET, some of the stories that Carla was telling were pretty scary.

We walked back towards the station after dinner and bought McDonald’s Apple Pies, which were deep fried and tasted great. I don’t think they fry them anymore in the states, but it’s been so long, maybe I just don’t remember. We bumped into a bunch of Carrie’s students, all of them girls, and I could tell that Carrie is going to spend all next week explaining that I am not her boyfriend. We finally got free and headed back to the station, and now I’m getting packed up for my trip tomorrow. I’ll post some more after the weekend, and I should have some good pictures and stories!

Today several teachers and even the principal came up to me to ask about the safety of my family in California. There must have been a big news blitz here in Japan, because nobody has mentioned it until now.

Through e-mail and the internet I’ve been able to keep in touch with family and friends, and monitor the progress of the fires. I’ve done my best to describe what is happening to my friends here in Japan, but having never been to California, it may be difficult for them to imagine.

I am having difficulty myself imagining what it must be like. Most of my favorite hiking trails in San Diego have burned out, and the pictures I’ve seen of the smoke and ash have been amazing. Hang in there, San Diego. You’ve got friends in Japan pulling for you!

On Saturday, I’m going to take a highway bus out to Hiroshima to explore the town, visit the A-bomb dome, and do some island hopping visiting shrines in the area.

I’ve booked a hotel room for two nights, and I’m going to take a ton of pictures. I’m looking forward to this mini-vacation. It’s a three day weekend, so I can take my time and explore a new town.

Today we had a Halloween party for the ESS club, and we cooked cupcakes in the kitchen, ate lots of trick or treat candy, and had a great time. Pumpkins are hard to find in Japan, and they are super-expensive. A large sized pumpkin similar to what you’d find in the States can cost around $90, so I ruled that out. They have smaller pumpkins for about $20, but I think in the end I just didn’t want anybody to lose a finger trying to carve up a poor pumpkin.

This time we had a couple of teachers join us, and they watched the club tear apart the kitchen. I forgot butter, so the home economics teacher pitched in a few sticks to help out. Mr. Hayashi (actually, his wife) chipped in the cupcake mix, eggs, and some toppings. All the members brought candy and drinks, and we cooked up a storm. It was actually very easy, and a surprising amount of English was spoken.

The best part is that it creates a very relaxed environment – the students are far more comfortable speaking English. It’s a big difference from the scared students I see everyday in my class. The students did a great job, and we went through the very Japanese ritual of cleaning the cooking area thoroughly afterwards.

I cooked up some shrimp tacos tonight, and my apartment still smells of garlic. While I was cooking I ran laundry on the porch and cranked up my music, sending the voice of Jim Morrison over the rooftops over my neighbors while I peeled shrimp. I maintained my tradition of having a shot of tequila while peeling the shrimp, a tradition I picked up at the Birch residence.

I sauteed the shrimp in garlic, butter, and jalapeno peppers, and then wrapped them with shredded cabbage, onions, and cheese in fried corn tortillas. I topped the whole thing with Mexican hot sauce, cracked open a Kirin beer, and ate four tacos on my patio as the sun set in the west over the smokestacks of the factories in Takasago.

I had an extra taco, so I wrapped it in foil and took it over to the yakitori for the master. He grinned and took it, saying that he’d eat it a little later. A couple of regulars were at the bar, and begged me to stay for “just one drink”, but I begged off and headed home to finish up laundry and write some e-mails. Tomorrow is a two class day, with a big Halloween party with my ESS club in the afternoon.

After school I walk down the steps of my school, and turn left, going through a dense neighborhood of houses, interspersed with tiny shops full of alcohol, sushi, cigarettes, laundry. My students ride by on bicycles, calling my name out from behind. At the end I turn left in front of a garage that contains a religious shrine and several old men, and the air is filled with the smell of burning incense.

As I finish walking down the main street, with motorcycles, tiny cars, and bicycles buzzing by, I turn down a narrow alley and head towards my train station. The streets here are much more narrow, and if a car comes through, you have to stand on somebody’s doorstep to get out of the way. People are walking in and out of their homes, sweeping up leaves from their driveway, talking with neighbors, and cooking dinner.

The station is surrounded by tiny shops and large pachinko parlors, and behind and above every shop is another layer of shops and buildings that hold even more mysteries. At the train station I wait with fifteen or twenty other people for the 5:15 train, and when it comes, I settle into a chair near the door. The train is almost empty, since I’m traveling the opposite direction of the main commute. The countryside goes by quickly, and next to my speeding train the bullet train rockets by even faster, on it’s way to Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, and then Tokyo.

The limited express train makes a quick eight minute trip to my station, and I walk down the steps into Futami and past the smells of fresh bread from a local bakery. The road home is lined with many stores, bars, and restaurants. I walk past a convenience store and see several people reading magazines for free right off the rack. One guys holds a porn magazine uncomfortably close to his face, but nobody next to him seems to notice or care.

I walk by people that glance at me furtively, looking away when I look at them. Kids stare, girls smile, old men frown, businessmen nod, ladies ignore, students grin. I walk past a temple that is older than the United States, and weave through a neighborhood of concrete and wood, saying hello to people I see everyday, and avoiding the homes with the barking dogs.

After a ten minute walk I approach my apartment block, and walk by twenty kids playing in sand under the watchful eye of five moms. One yells across the playground in Japanese, asking me what I’m cooking for dinner. The moms grin and look at each other, knowing the daily ritual. Still, they are curious, and listen carefully to my short, mangled answer in Japanese. I bow to them as I walk by, and they bow back and giggle.

As I walk up my staircase, I smell dinner cooking behind metal doors, with strange but delicious smells that I can’t identify. Finally, at the top of the first flight, I unlock my door, and settle into my apartment, getting my own dinner ready and looking forward to another tough commute tomorrow.

Just got back from watching Tears of the Sun at the local theater. Talk about a bodycount movie. I’m usually not one to worry about dead people in movies, but there were a ton. The movie overall was OK, but not great. Kind of the best and worst of so many war movies from the past. The ending seemed awfully corny, and overall, I’d call it a dud.

I had a new tonkatsu dish for dinner – it was delicious. The best part – since the Tigers made the championship, I got a free beer with dinner. Free beer – can you believe it?

Ouch! The Tigers lost the big game, and me and Mr. Komuri were left crying in our beers. Everything else about the evening was great. The people that were there were very supportive, and there were tons of darts players. They have tournaments almost every month, so I might have to come by and throw a few sometime.

Tonight I’m going back to Donkey, the strange bar where we celebrated the Hanshin Tigers getting the division championships. I’m meeting Mr. Komuri there, and we’ll be watching game seven of the championship. I’m looking forward to hanging out and watching the game with someone that has good English skills and a love of baseball.

At around 2:30 I went down to the station, and met Miss Kageyama. She was game enough to go to the festival with me. I think she just wanted to see a foreigner helping with the mikoshi. Apparently she had a big night last night, with a bit too much beer, but she rallied just fine.

I was amazed at how many people were at the festival. The place was packed! We went over to watch the mikoshi go by, and right away I saw my friends from the yakitori, sweating big time and carrying a monster mikoshi. They were really struggling, and a couple of times it almost turned over – I can’t imagine the run of bad luck that goes along with that.

After the first turn around the temple, one of the guys tapped me on the shoulder and handed me his happi – a gown worn by the people that lift the mikoshi. It’s not strictly enforced, though, and I saw other people helping in casual clothes. I put it on, and then I was committed.

We lifted the giant shrine and walked along. Thankfully, there weren’t too many advanced manuevers, especially since I couldn’t understand the instructions being shouted at everyone. We made a long trip down the back of the temple, and then sat the mikoshi down. I was sweating big time, and I hadn’t even taken it all the way around the temple. We sat and waited for some of the others to go by, and in the meantime, I introduced Miss Kageyama to everyone. Some people saw my outfit and walked up to take pictures with me. One guy even poured me a beer.

It became apparent that we were going to be there a while, so I returned my happi so that I didn’t forget and walk off with it. We mingled with the crowd a little, and then I saw Melanie and went over to introduce her to Miss Kageyama. Miss Kageyama had really wanted to meet Melanie to put a face to her name. We talked for a little while, and Miss Kageyama and I decided to do something about our appetites. There were tons of snack foods around, but we felt like something a little more substantial, so we decided to try out the new okonomiyaki restaurant near my house.

On the way, I popped in on the shaved ice lady, who nowadays is selling takoyaki out of her booth, since the weather has cooled considerably. I hadn’t seen her in a long time, and so we talked briefly, and then when she saw Miss Kageyama, they talked for a long time. I could only catch a bit, but they covered a lot of topics. Afterwards, she gave us each a hot package of takoyaki to take home. We thanked her profusely, and then I diverted back to my apartment to stick them in the fridge.

The okonomiyaki restuarant was packed, and we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. That’s always a good sign, and as it turned out, the food was excellent. We ate shrimp and pork okonomiyaki, and we were surrounded by hungry people drinking beer and having a good time. The atmosphere was busy and loud. It kind of reminded me of a local pizza place in the U.S.

After an excellent meal, we made the long walk back to Higashi Futami station, and Miss Kageyama took the long train trip home – it’s about 30 minutes back to her place from that station. An exhausting day, but it was a lot of fun to try something new and see some friendly folks! Back to work tomorrow!

I was awakened at 5:46 this morning by the sound of children chanting. I kind of rolled out of bed and looked outside, and there was a whole line of kids marching southeast, towards the center of town. They were singing some kind of song, and they all looked tired and bored.

About an hour and half later, the community announcement system clicked on with a “Good Morning West Futami!” message, giving details about the matsuri festival today. People are pretty excited about it, I guess. The community message came on again ten minutes later, and then ten minutes after that. Weird.

Sara called this morning, and we chatted for a while. She’s hoping to visit in February, so hopefully that will work out.

I’m doing some housecleaning today, and then later on in the afternoon I’m off to the festival.

Today was my second hike to the top of Mt. Takamikura, the big mountain in the area. The weather today was much better than the last time I went up and this time the school nurse, Ms. Mizuta came along with me.

Mizuta-san hikes Takamikura about twice a month, and she’s in great shape. At almost 60 years old, she had no problem keeping up with me, and in some cases, I was having problems staying ahead of her.

The views were incredible at the top – the weather was slightly hazy, but we could still see quite a ways. There was a temple at the top, and also a monument to commemorate the first flight in this area, by a 21 year old kid with lots of guts. He flew a glider right over the edge, and lived to tell the tale.

There were people rock climbing the steep face, and lots of folks at the top. This was one of the rare mountains that I’ve come across without a bar at the top, but there were vending machines. The entire trip was about two hours round trip, and we covered about 15 kilometers, just about 9 miles. It was good practice for our 40 kilometer hike next month.

During the hike I was forced to use my Japanese, and we really got on just fine. Of course, from my point of view, things went fine – I’m sure there were some weird parts of the conversation on her end. After getting back to her car, she wanted to go out to eat. I had planned on cooking up some shrimp tacos at home, but I couldn’t figure out a way to communicate that to her, and by the time I had something figured out, we were already on our way.

She made a phone call to a restaurant that she knows, run by the parents of one of our students. The place is an izakaya, kind of a variety restaurant focused on drinking and lots of different kinds of food. Mizuta-san called ahead, and it turned out they weren’t open yet, but they said that the would open up for us, and by the time we got there, everything was ready.

I was in for a real treat. Since I couldn’t read the menu, we decided on getting sushi and a pot of nabe, a hot soup. They asked what kind of sushi we would like, I mentioned some that I liked, and Mizuta-san added a few more, so we had quite an assortment. The sushi here was different than the sushi I have traditionally eaten in the States, and the presentation was amazing. Mizuta-san helped me identify everything we ate, showed me how to some are eaten with chopsticks, some with fingers. She showed me how to eat the sushi so that there is soy sauce only on the fish, not the rice, and the master even tucked in some extra wasabi under each piece of fish to spice things up for me.

Once the master and his wife found out that I was a teacher, and their daughter was in my class, they started bowing and smiling, and a lot more food came out of nowhere. They talked to me eagerly, and I tried to keep up, but I was a bit overwhelmed. The hot pot came out, and Mizuta-san served us both, effortlessly dividing all the goodies between us and telling me all about the dish and it’s ingredients.

It was a great dinner, and I learned a lot. Here in Japan it actually pretty rare for me to go out and eat a traditional Japanese dinner, and so I’m still kind of a rookie. Eating with an expert helps a lot, though.

I downloaded and watched Whale Rider, and I highly recommend it. Not your typical movie. It has amazing cinematography and music; even on my tiny computer screen it was overwhelmingly beautiful.