While hanging out the laundry today I noticed this car pull up at the gas station across the street. I’m not sure what was stranger – the car with two life sized dressed up Hello Kitties, or me standing out on my patio taking the picture of it.

Now you know how much free time I have this week. I was getting tired of the same old website, and it has been almost four years since I made it. Today I just went out and grabbed a template off the net and modified to suit my needs. Hope you like it…

Here’s our latest contact information:

Address:
660-13 Okubo
Okubo-cho Akashi-shi Hyogo-ken
Japan 674-0051

Our phone number is 078-935-2825

You can email me at: bryan (at) fredricks.net

In Japan, beer is very popular. I’m very happy with the quality of beer that I get to drink living here. There’s lots of things I wish for – more microbrews, more dark beers, and by god I wish for an ale.

Lager is what it’s all about in Japan. The big 3 main breweries – Kirin, Sapporo, and Asahi are all producing lagers – bottom fermented beers that are pretty good. Unfortunately, for one reason or another ales haven’t caught on.

That’s why I was so glad to bump into Kirin’s “Grand Ale” – a premium bottling that they have done that tastes to me like the best beer on earth. Every once in a while I get an ale from an import shop or a nice bar, but that’s not so often. Now I can just walk across the street and buy bottle after bottle (no 6 packs available) for 240 yen a pop.

Until I get my hands on another bottle of New Belgian beer, this will do just fine.

Today I got a chance to teach some classes for the first time in a long while. Today was an unusual class – officially the school is on holiday. Today’s classes were an exchange for a holiday at the end of the month. So, both Miki sensei and I showed up to teach the classes.

It went pretty well – Miki sensei was very helpful in helping me plan the lessons, because she has worked with the students for a long time and she knows what they’ve been working on. I did notice that Miki sensei was quick to jump in and guide the lesson in the direction she felt it should go. I guess that’s natural, I didn’t mind. It’s her last class.

After the classes I got a chance to chat with Nozaki sensei and talk a little about doing some small classes for junior high students five times a month. She’s paying even more for those classes, so now I’ll be making exactly the same amount of money working part time as I was working full time in Nishinomiya. We worked on the logistics of the new classes, and then it was time to head back home. I got home around eight p.m., and for the first time in a long time Kuniko had arrived at home before me.

This week will be pretty busy for Kuniko, but pretty quiet for me. We’re going to have a friend over for dinner on Wednesday night, and then Kuniko has a series of get-togethers with co-workers and ex-co-workers at the end of the week. We’re going to try to squeeze in a visit to see the cherry blossoms in Akashi park sometime this week. I’ll try to get some pictures of it – it’s always pretty dramatic.

All was pretty quiet around the household on Sunday. Kuniko had to work all day, and I spent most of the day studying, doing household chores, and watching a movie. I did do a little preparation for my lessons on Monday in the afternoon.

Kuniko came home exhausted in the evening, so we took it easy and just chilled out around the house – no high speed hiking across Okubo tonight. I had some pasta for dinner, and Kuniko went back to diet soup – not so exciting.

After my classes on Monday I have the rest of the week off since the school is on spring vacation. What to do, what to do….

Saturday I met up with Kuniko in Motomachi after she finished up at work, and together we took a train trip to visit Tomoko and her husband Masaki. They live past Osaka – we took another JR train line from Umeda to get there. Once we arrived Tomoko met us at the station and took us to their home.

They live just a few minutes walk from the station in a really nice apartment complex. The house was decorated really well and felt very comfortable inside. We sat around their table in the living room and they were nice enough to get some bottles of wine to enjoy with dinner. They were really good wines – a French Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. We listened to some music by “Joe” – his third album, called (aptly enough) “My Name is Joe”. It sounded pretty good – I’d never heard him before.

While we talked and enjoyed our drinks, Tomoko and Masaki went back and forth between cooking dinner and entertaining us. The first course was green vegetables and a soft tofu film wrapped up like a little package together in a warm dashi broth. After Tomoko impressed us with that she started frying up kushikatsu – mushrooms, pork, onions, leeks, and even Camembert cheese. The kushikatsu really hit the spot – but she wasn’t finished yet. The main course was sushi – roll your own sushi.

We had a big wooden rice bowl in front of us filled with sushi rice. We put a layer of rice on a piece of nori, and then laid some fish inside. After that, it was up to you what ingredients you put in. They had ikura, egg, cucumber, and even mayo-mentai. We ate lots of sushi – it is my favorite Japanese food, but I’ve never had sushi like this before. It was a very social experience, talking and drinking while rolling up your own sushi rolls.

Tomoko and Masaki really put together a great meal. I hope that we can see a little more of them in the future. We’re going to try to meet up for hamburgers at Star Child’s in Kobe sometime soon. They’re both thinking about studying English a little more, and so maybe I can help them a little with that.

Not only is Tomoko very talented in the kitchen, but she played some piano for us (they have a small piano in their living room). She was really good – I was impressed. She played a song for us and it was beautiful. I hope we get a chance to hear her play again.

Finally the end of the night came and after drinking all three of the bottles of wine (mainly just Kuniko and I… we’re a couple of alcoholics!) and some KitKats for dessert we headed back to the station. Masaki and Tomoko walked us over there, and we caught a train headed the right way. It was really nice to spend time with them and it was definitely the highlight of our weekend.

I woke up about the same time as Kuniko, even though I had Friday off. She showed me the sopping wet laundry hanging out on the patio – I guess a big storm had come through in the middle of the night. I was a little angry at myself for forgetting. The clothes were wet and needed to be rewashed and hung out again. Ugh.

Once Kuniko left for work I went into my “unemployed bum” routine. I studied Japanese, read my book, repotted some plants, and was generally busy around the house. Time flew by and before long Kuniko was back from work.

We had a healthy dinner together – sauteed shitake mushrooms (from Kuniko’s family garden), boiled greens, pickled daikon radish, and natto (not for me, though). After dinner I walked over to Starbucks and got a coffee frappucino for dessert. I thought it might be nice to give Kuniko some time in the house alone. With me being at home so much she really doesn’t have any breathing room to do things on her own. I just walked there and back slowly to take in the sights and avoid the crazy people running around on Friday night.

Tomorrow Kuniko and I are going to visit a friend’s house for dinner. It’s a little far away, so we won’t get back until late. I’ll have a full report on Sunday. Time is getting short – I’ll have my first day at work on Monday. Then another four days off for Spring Holiday.

I had Thursday off of work, but Kuniko had to go in like usual this morning. I spent the day cleaning house and studying Japanese, reading a book (in English!) and I watched a movie on the big screen plasma TV. In the late afternoon the phone rang, and it was Kuniko. Some teachers were having a farewell party from her school, so they invited me to come along.

This is kind of a big deal because generally spouses aren’t really invited to events like this. My case is kind of an exception, because I’m foreign and different and everyone wants to get a look at me in action. Still, maybe that will put some cracks in the age old tradition of excluding spouses from parties. I took them up on the invitation and caught the next train for Kobe.

The place they met was a Chinese restaurant near the school. I had walked by it a couple of times, and Kuniko had been there once and gave it a good review. I actually got there before Kuniko did, so I sat down with two teachers that I had never met and we introduced ourselves and talked about this and that. Soon after Kuniko and the others started trickling in.

We ate and drank big – it was a good dinner. They had a refrigerator up there, right next to the dinner table so you could just pull out a beer when you needed it and pour around. That’s a dangerous thing having all that cold beer within an arm’s reach. They also served us some traditional Chinese liquor. The Japanese version of the Chinese name was 紹興酒 (shoukoushu). It tasted like a weak sherry to me, but it was OK. I had a couple glasses of it on the rocks.

The food was traditional Chinese. It was really tasty – usually you get some pretty bland Chinese food dishes in Japan. The best dish was a shrimp, egg and rice dish they brought out towards the end. Everybody was pretty tipsy at the end, but we made it down the stairs, put our shoes on, and said goodbye outside the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant and his wife followed us outside and said goodbye as well.

We walked back towards the station but I was still just a tiny bit hungry and drunk enough to want to go snack somewhere. Kuniko had enough beer to agree with me, and so that was how we ended up at a counter in Osho – a Chinese fast-food restaurant – eating gyoza and fried chicken. We split a beer with it, and had a really nice conversation with a drunk older gentleman sitting next to me. He was really interested to be sitting next to an international couple and had lots of questions. At the end of his meal he insisted on paying our bill. Over our protests he did, and said goodbye. The clerk at Osho gave us a funny look like “Why are you protesting? Take the free dinner!”

After our free post-dinner dinner we walked around a little to get the calories burning, and then caught a train ride home. We were both tired out – and went right to bed, totally forgetting about all the laundry hanging out on the patio.

Today was part two of our trial lessons to see where to put the new students entering the school. I met up with Miki sensei at Tsuchiyama station, and then we went from there to the classroom and got ready.

The usual protocol was that the kids came with their mothers (or grandmothers), and the they would sit in the back part of the room to watch me with the kids. Then, the kids would go through a very simple lesson on colors, emotions, or animals – sometimes all three depending on their age.

After watching for a little while, Miki sensei would talk to the mothers and answer their questions, and basically reassure them that I could speak Japanese and would be able to handle any issues that come up. I usually say hello to the mothers when they come in and goodbye when they leave. Today we had one mother who was my age, and that was a little bit of a shocker. Someone my age with kids? Impossible! She was actually blushing for some reason when I talked to her.

Today the lessons ended earlier than usual, so we were out of there before lunch. Miki sensei and I got in her car and went to catch some sushi for lunch. As we left the neighborhood mothers were out gossiping with each other and we waved as we drove by. Miki sensei told me that word on the street was that there was a hot foreign teacher working at Nozaki sensei’s school, and everyone is excited about it.

Japanese neighborhoods, especially those away from the big cities, tend to be pretty quiet and at least during the day they are dominated by the mothers staying home with nothing to do and the kids they are taking care of. That contributes to a lot of neighborhood gossip on the grapevine, and until they get used to me I’m going to be subjected to that for a while. I’ll have to watch what I do and how I act when I’m walking around that neighborhood.

Miki sensei and I had sushi at Sushi-ro in Futami (“Zurui!” Kuniko said later), and then she dropped me off back at Tsuchiyama station. I headed home and still tired from last night’s hike I hit the sack to take a nap. I had just settled in when Kuniko came home surprisingly early. It was perfect timing – I had the bed all warm and ready and she snuggled in with me and we slept through the afternoon.

In the evening we went over to Saty and Vivre for some shopping. Kuniko did most of the shopping, actually. She usually shops for several hours and finds one thing or nothing at all. Today was a real surprise – she scored a lot of stuff. Then it was dinner (special diet soup for Kuniko, mabodofu for me).

Not much else – I watched a lot of Japanese TV to try to improve my listening comprehension, and Kuniko caught up on the computer. Tomorrow I have the day off – no work for me until Monday. Kuniko has a regular workday tomorrow, but she should have some short days coming up on Friday and Saturday.

After a slow Monday I was up with Kuniko early this morning, and I went off to help Miki sensei with some trial lessons for some new students at Nozaki sensei’s place. I picked up a sandwich for lunch and then met Miki sensei at Tsuchiyama station. She drove me to Nozaki sensei’s house, and we set up in the classroom there.

Today we had new students arriving in waves. The idea was for them to get a measure of me, for Miki sensei to get a measure of their abilities, and for me to warm up my little kid teaching skills a little. The day went pretty well, with lots of cute kids coming in. One student is so young she can barely speak Japanese (3 years old). The mother really wants her to have an early start on pronunciation, and so I’m going to be working with her class to play games and have fun with English.

The challenge for me is really just to adjust my English to what the students know. Most of the new students today are studying English for the first time, so they know nothing. They can’t even read or write their ABCs. I was getting a little worried that I had bitten off a bit too much, but later in the day some new students were accompanied by an older current student. The kid walked in there and I felt like he was going to walk on water any minute. Compared to all the other kids his English skills were excellent – I was ready to give him a medal. I have to keep in mind that I am only meeting the new students over the next two days. I’ll have to wait to meet the experienced students until the second week of April.

Also, spending this time with Miki sensei has really helped me understand exactly what is expected and what I’ll be responsible for. Today she mentioned off the cuff that we don’t start with the textbook until May, so I can use the month of April to adjust to the students, play games with them to make them comfortable, and get to know them and their levels of English. I’m glad she remembered to mention that today.

We spent most of the day in the classroom with mothers and kids, and then I got out of there around four. I came home and beat Kuniko back by about 20 minutes. We just had a simple yet separate dinner (she had broccoli – just broccoli – and I had Mexican spiced chicken in a salsa and cheese sauce). Tonight after a little bit we are going to hike to the distant shopping center to burn calories and do some shopping at the home center. I have some gardening I need to do with the warmer weather approaching.

Consider me very late to the party, but who knew that RSS could be so freaking useful. Every day when I use my computer I pull up about 20 websites, and then spend time checking to see if they are updated, reading up on articles in Japanese and English, and basically staying up to date with the world outside my apartment. On a recommendation from someone online I started pulling down RSS feeds from all of those sources, and I’m reading them all on one page with a nice portal RSS/module hub called Netvibes. It looks to save a whole lot of time.

I liked it so much that I went ahead and set up an RSS feed for this site. You can get it here, or by using the button over there on the right side of the page. Have fun, and let me know if you have any trouble with it. I’m still new to this…

Today Kuniko had to get up and go to work, but I had Sunday off. I was out of bed and fully functioning when I felt an earthquake around 9:45. It was fairly mild, but enough to be felt and big enough to shake the table, computer and TV in the living room. I looked outside and the stop lights were shaking a little, too. The employees of the gas station across the street were checking all the pumps for safety.

The quake actually happened to the northeast of us, and there was a fair amount of damage near the epicenter. Luckily nothing bad here, and all is well.

After the excitement of the earthquake I didn’t have much else to do. I went shopping and bought a whole bunch of food to keep me in meals this week. Kuniko is on a special diet so she is eating strange and unusual foods for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So that leaves me to fend for myself. I’ve got to get used to cooking for myself over the next two weeks.

While I was shopping at the supermarket there was a cute girl in a miniskirt working there giving away free beer. That’s right – read that last sentence again. That’s a situation you don’t see often in America. I just walked up and she handed me a cold can of beer with a big smile and asked me to try it sometime. Thanks – I will.

Not much else to report today. In the afternoon I studied, watched a downloaded movie (A Good Year, with Russell Crowe) and looked through the textbooks that I’ll be using at my new job.

After Kuniko got home I cooked up my dinner and she had some special diet soup. Then we drove over to Kuniko’s parents house to pick up some things and say hello. They were doing really well. We finally bought the plane tickets for our summer trip to Hawaii, and so it really started to sink in with them that we’re going. It turned out to be a little expensive, but summertime is the most expensive time to fly out of Japan. They had a couple of questions and I think they are getting excited about the trip.

We’re back home now with armloads of fresh vegetables. Too bad I went shopping today – there’s enough fresh veggies to feed me for two weeks. I’m going to have to work hard to eat them before they go bad.

Tomorrow Kuniko is working, and then she’s got a farewell party for some teachers in the evening. That will give her a break from her diet, and a break from her work. She’s in the middle of a three-weeks-no-day-off run. As for me, I don’t have any work tomorrow, so it’ll just be me at home with all these vegetables. And free beer.

Kuniko had to go to work this morning, and so we got up around 8:30 and she was gone 45 minutes later. I’ve got a little bit of a headache, but nothing a couple of aspirin won’t resolve.

Today I’m on cleanup duty and I also need to catch up with my Japanese studies. I was really struck last night by how much I understood of the all-Japanese conversation, but there is a lot more room for improvement. I want to get a little more comfortable with speaking, and I also want to review some of my older grammar books to practice putting simple sentences together quickly.

There are a couple of blogs I keep up with out there. One that has been interesting for me is Brenda’s blog. She is the American that replaced me in my previous job at Takasago Minami, and it is interesting to see it all through fresh eyes. She is really good about exploring the cultural side of Japan and explaining things as she sees them. She’s also good about not naming names in her blog – something that I did maybe too much back then.

In her blog she always mentions hanging out with her friends, who mostly appear to be foreigners like her. It really struck me that most of my friends here are Japanese. There are many kinds of experiences that people have living in foreign countries. One common experience is to recreate a bubble of your own culture wherever you are – a foreign friend network, foreign bars and restaurants, etc. Another experience is to “go native” and embrace all things in that country. Learn the language, participate in the culture, and try to fit in to the point of being as much as possible like everyone around you. Those are two extremes, but you can see both of those extremes in Japan.

Many foreigners I meet in Japan are definitely in the “living your own culture” group. These foreigners can sometimes be pretty bitter or angry because the culture that they live in every day doesn’t mesh with what they are used to with their own culture, and the cultures of the foreign friends they surround themselves with.

On the other hand I have met quite a few people that have tried so hard to fit into Japanese culture. They do a great job learning the language, praying at temples, and following customs and traditions. Invariably they become frustrated because in the end, they still are not Japanese, and can’t become native Japanese. They will always be treated differently.

My role here in Japanese culture will always be the foreigner that stands out. I’ll never fit in completely, but that isn’t something I really strive for. I do want to be able to function in Japan just like everyone else – communicate, shop, enjoy life.

Enough rambling psycho-babble. I’m off to do the dishes.

Friday – the end of the week at last. I had an easy time of it today because my classes don’t start until the second week of April. Still, I do have some classes now and then to help Nozaki sensei with new students. The entering students want to meet me at the outset to get an impression of me. I guess I’d want to do the same thing were I in their position.

Kuniko left for work, and around lunchtime I went to Tsuchiyama station, and got a ride from there from Miki sensei. Miki sensei is the teacher I am replacing, and she is really fun to talk to. We went over to Nozaki sensei’s house, and then set up in the classroom and got ready for the student and her mother to show up.

When they came we did a very short 10-15 minute session to get an idea of what level the student was, and which class she should join. I didn’t do much but talk to her – she was only 8 years old and a little shy. Miki sensei told me which class she should join, and she also talked to the mother to work out payment and logistics. I had a hard time reading the student – while we were speaking I thought she was too scared to continue, but afterwards as she left she said goodbye and she had a big smile on her face.

Back home I met up with Kuniko and did a little bit of shopping for the party tonight. We had four of her coworkers over for tacos and drinks. It was the same group of people that came over the night one teacher tumbled down our stairs. Tonight they were a little more under control, but just barely. I had to do a beer run in the middle of the evening as I got a better idea of what they were capable of. The Wii was super popular, and everybody really liked playing baseball, tennis and bowling. We played games and talked and drank almost until midnight, and then they left for home. Nobody fell down the stairs.