Today I had a new set of students come over with Miyake sensei for an English conversation lesson. These are also students of hers, and they heard from the other students that it was fun, and so now I’ve got six different students dropping by once a month.

Again, it was very easy, and we introduced ourselves, and looked at wedding pictures. The students are second year high school students, so their level isn’t as high as the other ones. They were also a little more scared than the other ones, but in the end they did OK. The first lesson is just to get them a little more comfortable with me and the learning environment (my living room).

As usual Miyake sensei brought loads of omiyage, and we had some to give back to her, so that went smoothly. After they left I went down to the yakitori to catch some dinner, since Kuniko was stuck at school to attend a concert by her students.

The place was empty except for one other guy – he’s a regular but he’s in a different crowd than the other guys. We chatted a little bit and he seemed like a really nice guy. We spoke about 99% Japanese, but he’s interested in learning more English. As the yakitori got busy around us we chatted and watched TV and compared notes about different cultures.

We exchanged email addresses and then took off – the master was getting really busy and his part time help was late. By the time I got home Kuniko was just getting home. Perfect timing!

Once again it was up early this morning, take a nice hot bath and then head outside into the cold winds. Now that we have a heater I can’t imagine how I survived without one. For a while there I was living without an electric blanket, too. What was I, nuts?

I showed the pictures from the wedding to various people who were dying to see them. Tsutsumi sensei, Miyake sensei, the school nurses, and various other people really enjoyed looking through the book. It was fun the first few times, but after a while I got a little tired of seeing and explaining the same pictures. There’s no end in sight, though. It is fun to give people a taste of what the wedding is like. Everyone comments on how happy we look. Naturally!

I put in lots of study time today and even though I spent more than eight hours studying I still felt at the end like I could have spent the time better. Isn’t that weird? I enjoy studying so much I’m almost bummed out when it is over.

Tonight for dinner I served up cheese that my family had brought over from America. We had three different cheeses with Ritz crackers and some other little toasted breads. I served it with raw ham and roast beef, and then some vegetables. We also split a bowl of chili beans, and opened up a Nouveau Beaujolais. Success!

Kuniko is in the bath now and I’m waiting my turn. It’ll be early to bed tonight, and then off to the cold winds again tomorrow morning. We did buy some new warmer underclothes today – maybe that will help a little bit.

If I’m avoiding all television, newspapers, and web pages it must be because Survivor is wrapping up it’s season. Even in Japan I got nailed last year when I was checking the weather and inadvertently found out who won. I’m determined to avoid that fate this year. I’m downloading the episode now and have only opened a browser to write this entry.

Today it was cold and windy around Futami. The wind seems to be blowing even more this year, and it just pushes all that cold air in your face. Once I got to school everything was fine, though. My routine is pretty set, and so I made myself at home. Since I had no classes I did some revisions on the English language school brochure based on the vice principal’s input. I’m an old hand at doing that stuff from my time at Synapta making web pages according to the client’s wildest desires.

I also had time to go to the bank and do some shopping during the work day. I got some money from my account and then walked over to Seiyu to get some choice goods for Christmas.

Around 4:30 I left school and came home, and the wind was still blowing. I bought a couple of groceries for dinner (takoyaki), and also took a look at a new digital camera that I’ve been dreaming of. There’s a lot of electronics on our wishlist – all expensive things. I need a backup hard drive for all my files and pictures, so I had better get that first. We’re also looking for a DVD player that will play American DVDs on a regular TV, and eventually we want to get a new TV. The one we have now is about the size of a cat’s forehead.

Hey look over there on the right! I put a link to the photo gallery so you can browse through the latest photos over there. I’ll probably end up putting most of my pictures over there from now on, but since the wedding I’ve been a bit averse to photography.

This morning Kuniko and I put on our best clothes and drove out to her uncle’s house to hold a ceremony to remember her grandfather, who passed away two years ago.

Kuniko’s dad invited us to come along, and I thought it might be a good way to see a ceremony that most foreigners don’t get a chance to observe. Better yet, I could see it as a member of the family.

When we got there, we walked in and sat down in the room that was somewhat dedicated to a memorial shrine. We had pillows to sit on, and we watched as a priest that looked remarkably like Marlon Brando in “Apocalypse Now” smoked cigarettes and chatted amiably with the older folks around him.

He started the ceremony by explaining what was going to happen, and as he was doing that his cell phone rang. He hurried to grab it and even looked briefly at who it was before closing it again. Not two minutes later it rang again. Come on man – you are performing a sacred memorial ritual – turn off the phone.

From there he sat in front of the shrine and started reading a sutra. They passed out little books for us to follow along – and it even had little cheater characters to help kids and Americans figure it out.

After almost thirty (30!) minutes of chanting we passed along a small burning incense container. Everyone prayed, took a pinch of incense and burned it, and then prayed again. I had some borrowed prayer beads from Kuniko’s dad, and I think it went pretty smoothly. One thing that I thought was interesting was the financial offering that everyone had brought. The money was to offset the cost of the priest, the food, the bus to take them to lunch, etc. The priest read each name to the altar, as if letting the deceased know who had paid (and who didn’t!). That was an intersection of money and religion that creeped me out a little.

From there we had a cup of tea and some snacks, and then walked out to the family gravesite. It was my second visit, and we lit more incense and washed the gravestone. Then, we were done. I chatted a little bit with the priest. He was a nice enough guy, and he spoke in clear, easy Japanese so it was easy for me to understand.

I got a chance to meet some of Kuniko’s other relatives – uncles, aunts, etc. There were a lot of older people at the ceremony – not many young folks. It was nice to meet them and they seemed like nice enough people. They are not really close to Kuniko and her sister, so we don’t often have a chance to say hello.

After getting back from the gravesite, everyone else was going to lunch. We were heading back, but before we left they gave us a portion of the offerings that everyone had left on the altar. We brought home a big set of bath soaps, lots of fruits and little cakes, and several boxes of rice crackers.

In the afternoon we did some Christmas shopping at Ito Yokado, and then took a nice long nap. Now we’re getting ready to have some udon noodles for dinner and do some last minute cleaning before the week starts.

I’ve got an easy couple of weeks ahead. These are the classes that don’t matter – and rather than doing lessons for my first years the teachers want them to work on their winter vacation homework in their classrooms. That frees up my schedule – a lot. I have only two classes over the next two weeks. Nice!

It was kind of a last minute invitation, but Carrie was throwing a year end party of her own in Himeji at a Persian restaurant that she likes, and she invited Kuniko and me to attend. Kuniko and I met up in Himeji a little bit before and did a little bit of shopping, and then headed to the restaurant. As it happened we walked by a nice sized grocery, and so I ducked in there and scored some foreign foods – Knott’s Berry Farm jam, and bottles of Bass Ale for only 198 yen each.

I had been to the Caspian restaurant before with Carrie – the guy that runs it is really nice and the food is delicious. Since then he has changed locations, but the food was still great.

We introduced ourselves to the group, mainly comprised of people that I didn’t know. Some of them looked pretty hardcore. Carrie is a member of a soccer team, so most of the people there that night were also members. Kuniko and I ordered up Guinness, and Carrie’s boyfriend seemed impressed. Carrie and her sister ordered pink Chu-hai drinks.

They started bringing out food slowly, and we ate quick a bit. There were lots of tasty curries, rice and different meats. There were also some good salads with chicken and sauces on top. Of course he had naan bread, and some tortilla-like things that were good to stuff meat into.

Kuniko moved from Guinness to tequila, and we kept everyone entertained on our side of the table by talking about the pitfalls of Japanese for learners, and telling some not-so-amusing stories. When we finally ran out of stomach room. There was a little bit of food left on the table, and it still looked really good. Because we had arranged an all-you-can-eat thing, we couldn’t take it home. It was such a waste. We moaned and gnashed our teeth as the owner picked up the foods and squished it all together into an uneatable mess. I swear he looked happy to do it, too.

We caught a train back home with an ALT that I vaguely know from Perth, Australia. Her side of the conversation was punctuated with an abnormal amount of “Yeah, yeaaaa-h”‘s. Afterwards I was doing little impressions of her for most of the walk home.

We did just a bit of shopping and then headed home to crash out. Once again we went to bed with loads of food in our stomach.

Well the Santa job was a lot of fun. As expected the mothers from the apartment complex were very thorough. They sent a couple of moms over to make sure I was awake 30 minutes before game time, and then they sent some five minutes before to look over the costume and escort me over there.

When I got there I waited outside a black curtain, and when the moment came I stepped out into a group of 30 or so suitably surprised kids. I walked over to the front with a couple of “Merry Christmas”‘s and “Ho Ho HO!”‘s. Once I got to the front of everyone, they had a Santa Claus Q&A session. That was a first for me – I wasn’t expected to be grilled by little kids in Japanese.

The age range of the kids varied a lot, but everyone seemed to be in elementary school. The questions were fun – “Are you single?” “How do reindeers fly?” “Where are your reindeer right now?” “How did you get here?” “How do you get into the houses?”

I did my best in Japanese and I think everyone understood. It was pretty fun. Then they had each kid come up and get a present from me. I read out the name, and then the kid would come up, snatch the present, and run for it. The organizers wanted to get a picture with each one, so they would have to go chase down the kid who was already tearing into his or her gift.

It made for a long gift delivery session. Each kid took the present and ran, and then everyone would scramble to gather them up and bring them up to stand next to me. I would smile and wave, but I had so much fake hair on my face I don’t think anyone noticed.

After still more pictures we sang “Silent Night” in Japanese (I faked it). Then they ushered me out of there and I was back in my civilian clothes in 20 minutes. Thanks to double sided tape I lost quite a bit of eyebrow hair, but overall it was a success. Too much fun.

I’m sitting here dressed as Santa Claus waiting for the apartment complex ladies to knock on my door. I thought it would be a good time to write an entry for the blog.

It’s finally the weekend, and Kuniko and I got to sleep in a little today before she had to go off to work. Yesterday was a nice, easy day. Work went well (only a half day for me!) and then I came home and bought a DVD for us to watch – it’s one of our favorite movies – Team America: World Police.

We ate sushi and watched the movie and went to bed early last night. We skipped the bath and instead opted for the warm bed.

Once I finish my Santa gig I’m going to spend time cleaning the house and then relax a little bit. We may go over to Himeji to party with Carrie tonight – not sure if that will happen, though.

A full Santa report later on!

I’m wrapping up a week of half days because of the student exam period. I’m going in, having a cup of cocoa, heating up by the big kerosene heaters, and then studying for about four hours. Then I’m out the door and on to household chores and some relaxation at home. It’s nice to get a chance to catch up around the house.

Today I organized the photos that we got back from the wedding place. I put them into some sort of order and in the next few days we’ll go looking for an album or albums that can handle the capacity that we’re talking about.

Tonight Kuniko got home a little early so we went shopping together for some vegetables for a stir fry. Afterwards we walked over to make a reservation at Kentucky Fried Chicken for our Christmas eve dinner. There’s just two of us, so we only need four pieces of chicken to go along with the fondue that we’re going to do. Unfortunately they are only accepting reservations for these giant sets for big families, and so we’re left with the daunting task of waiting in line for fried chicken on Christmas eve. Crazy.

Strangely I’ve been really tired lately, so I might hit the sack early tonight. Kuniko is parked in the kotatsu watching TV, and we’re both looking forward to the weekend. Tomorrow is Friday – finally.

Last night on the way home from Kobe, something weird happened. We were walking over to the vending machine before the next Sanyo train showed up. We suddenly noticed a crazy lady, making weird sounds, holding a cigarette, and kind of chasing some other lady around. The other lady was trying to get away, but the platform was crowded and the crazy lady kicked her a few times. People all around looked shocked and stood back, just in case the crazy lady went after them.

Kuniko and I went for the nearest train conductor, but by the time we explained the situation and brought him over, the crazy lady was propped up on a wall doing nothing but staring into space. The conductor looked at her for a while, and then just shrugged and went back to his train.

When the next train came, everyone got on board and watched the crazy lady standing there spacing out as we pulled out of the station.

What a strange situation. Obviously things are different here in Japan. If the crazy lady started kicking me or Kuniko I would probably have had to do something physical to keep her away and protect ourselves. The lady who was getting kicked just tried to escape. Either way, the crazy lady was dangerous to other people – why is she walking around loose?

There’s (comparatively) a lot of crazy people walking around Japan that probably should be in an institution somewhere. There is a crazy guy that stands on the Sanyo platform all day long – he must buy a ticket in the morning and just stand there. He was this strange smile but he doesn’t really look at anyone, he just spaces out. Anyway, it makes you think about some of the more subtle differences between America and Japan.

This morning we slept in a little bit. Since we weren’t making bento lunches today we enjoyed a little extra sleep. I could still taste the sake on my breath from the night before. Yuck.

I was at school early again, and the place was quiet, and warm thanks to the heaters. I heard from Yamamoto sensei that they left around 10:30 from the yakitori the night before, and that they did get a chance to chat with some of the regulars before they left. I was glad about that.

Two of the youngest teachers in the first year group, Ageshi sensei and Matsumoto sensei, came in this morning with bags of stuff. They had spent the last three days in China, and they brought lots of souvenirs. I was totally surprised – I didn’t know anything about the trip. As it turns out, Matsumoto sensei took two years of Chinese in college, so they were able to get by without a guide. It sounded like a fantastic trip, and I can’t wait to see the photos. I scored a couple of Chinese Snickers bars as omiyage, and we are all drinking authentic Chinese oolong tea, which is in a box strangely similar to Lipton tea sporting the English phrase “Iron Buddha Tea Bag!” on the side.

I wrapped up a project to update the school brochure, and so now I don’t have much else that I am required to do the rest of the week. I’ll be able to spend some time studying and relaxing, and that is a very welcome thing.

As I was leaving I talked to the vice principal about my hours during the exam week. I thought it would be a good idea to clarify what my hours have been like, and I think it was good for both of us to have a talk. He had been thinking that I should stay until two or three p.m. during exams, but after crunching the numbers it is more like noon on exam days. I took advantage of his newfound enlightenment and left early.

I went into Kobe early, bought a textbook, looked unsuccessfully for a DVD player that will play American DVDs, and then met up with Kuniko. We walked together to the wedding place and picked up a huge bag of photos, and then we walked all the way to Kitano to eat at one of our favorite restaurants, Graciani.

It has been more than a year since we ate at Graciani – the last time was my birthday. We had really been missing it. The place was pretty quiet, and we sat down really hungry and left really full. The meal was delicious. We started off with little pie appetizers stuffed with different vegetables, then had some really tasty rolls filled with crab, peppers and cream. Next up was sweet potato soup, and then we had some sauteed fish with mushrooms. The main course for me was tender pork with little white beans that I couldn’t identify, floating in a sweet mustard sauce with vegetables. Kuniko went with the beef which I ended up getting about 30% of. It was so good.

We had a cheesecake for dessert with fresh fruit and homemade chocolate ice cream, and then we hit the road and walked gingerly back to the station. The train was starting to get full with rush hour traffic, but we weren’t too crowded in there.

When we got back we did a bit of shopping at Ito Yokado, and then looked at the pictures. I have to say that the professional pictures really look great. We’ve got almost 400 pictures, and we’ll have to sort them out and get them organized. There are some awesome photos in there. I’ll work on that a little bit tomorrow during the afternoon – I get to leave early the rest of the week!

We went to the yakitori last night expecting to meet Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei. When we got there the master nodded us towards the private room, and when I opened the door there were a whole bunch of teachers in there.

Ikeda sensei, Arauchi sensei, Oki sensei, the school nurse Yamamoto sensei, Fujimaru sensei, Sakano sensei – it was packed with people in there. We sat down and Kuniko gave me a look like “what the hell is going on here?” I felt the same way.

From what I had understood, Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei were coming to hang out with the Denya yakitori regulars, so when we found them locked up in a private room with a bunch of other teachers we were caught off guard. After a few minutes the Denya guys started to show up, but the Takasago Minami teachers weren’t moving – they stayed inside the private room and talked shop.

I went outside now and then and talked with the gang. They were really happy to see me and chat about the wedding and my family’s visit. They are really cool people. The atmosphere was so much lighter and positive than the teachers in the private room – even though the teachers were laughing and joking around, they were complaining, too.

One time Oki sensei was complaining about something and giving the part time worker – who I get along with really well – a hard time. Although I really like Maeda sensei and Yamamoto sensei, there is a reason that they were the only teachers I had invited to the wedding party. I found myself wanting to hang out with the yakitori regulars instead.

Finally it was starting to get late, so Kuniko and I said our goodbyes and left the private room. We left some money at the counter for our part of the bill and then said goodbye to the regulars. I felt bad for them – probably the only reason they had come was to chat with my teachers, and they were all holed up in the private room.

As we were leaving the school nurse gave a small bag to Kuniko, and it turned out to be some wedding money for us. The presents are still trickling in – it is amazing how the system works.

As soon as we walked out the door Kuniko and I compared notes. She was just as surprised as I, and we both felt bad about some of the teacher’s attitudes in there. When we got home Kuniko composed a nice message to the master to apologize for their behavior and to thank him for hosting them.

We kept waking up last night as the wind rattled the windows and howled outside. I asked Kuniko if we had left the laundry out, and without saying a word she went outside, gathered it up, and brought it inside. I’m not sure if she was even awake.

Kuniko showed me how the timer works on the heater so we’ve got it turning on 15-20 minutes before we wake up, and it makes it a whole lot easier to get out of bed when you know there is a warm kitchen waiting for you.

We walked together to the train station right into the freezing wind, and it was burning our faces – it hurt so much. We had gloves and big jackets, but we didn’t bring our scarves. Tomorrow the wind is supposed to die down, so I’m looking forward to that.

At school I arrived, warmed up by the heater, made myself a cup of cocoa, and then sat at my desk and realized that there is no real reason to study today. I’ve been studying towards the test for so long that now it feels refreshing to be able to relax a bit. I decided today to just think about what I want to study over the next year, choose what to focus on, and think about new strategies. It was nice to sit back and think for a while.

I worked a little bit on a project to update the English language version of our school brochure, and also did some marking of exams. I left without guilt in the afternoon, and did a little bit of shopping at Ito Yokado before coming home and cleaning up there.

Kuniko is going to get off early today, and together we are probably going to head over to the yakitori tonight and drink with Yamamoto sensei and Maeda sensei. They really got along well with the yakitori guys during our wedding party, so it’ll be nice for them to check out the food. Yamamoto sensei was funny – he said that he doesn’t drink and he doesn’t eat chicken – those are the two main staples of any yakitori. We’ll have to find some other things on the menu for him…

A quick wrap up from the weekend: Saturday I stayed inside and studied all day while Kuniko did housework. She did loads of laundry, did some shopping, brought home goodies for lunch, and really got a lot done. We had a dinner of gyoza from Osho, nikuman, and some leftover kimchee. It was a great dinner – I’m in love with the gyoza from Osho.

Sunday I got up early to go out in the pouring rain and take the big Japanese test in Kobe. In Akashi I met up with Anthony, who is Kuniko’s former co-worker Risa’s husband. He was taking the second level test for the third time. I was also taking the second level test, for the first time. The exam is made up of four levels, the first level being the most difficult, and the fourth level being the easiest. Last year I passed the third level and this year I had studied towards passing the second level.

It turns out it is a huge jump from the third level to the second. As it was I barely passed the third level, so it was a bit ambitious to go for the second so quickly, especially considering Anthony who has lived in Japan for many years has had trouble passing it. The problem is the test is held only once a year, so I had no choice but to try.

My goal all along was to pass the test next year. At this level my listening is not very good, and my reading is way too slow. Although I did well on the practice exams, the actual test was a different story. I built some confidence by really doing well on the first section, but the next two sections were really tough. The last section I had only two minutes left and 10-15 answers still unanswered. I had to fill in guesses on all of them and then go back and try to knock them out. I was really disappointed in that – that cost me a lot of points.

So it looks like I won’t pass this year, but I expected that. It gives me a lot of information on what I need to focus on, though. My listening and speaking skills are probably the worst, but vocabulary and kanji are my strong points. I’ll focus from here on speaking and building my reading speed. The results won’t be ready until sometime at the end of February, so I’ll just forget about them and move on.

When I got home from the test Kuniko was ready. She cooked an incredible dinner Рa pork saut̩ with vegetables and miso soup. She had the kotatsu all warmed up for me, made me some yuzu tea, and had bought a movie for us to watch. It was a great way to come home from a rainy day at the exam.

I had three classes on Friday, and after that a holiday party for our school. Somebody had arranged a bus to drive us from the school to the hotel where the party was being held, right near the train station in Kakogawa. Due to how the train lines are set up, you cannot take a train from my school to Kakogawa. This makes for some really tricky train connections and some very long walks, but the bus saved everybody a lot of time.

This year the party was a much calmer affair. Nobody got completely blasted, and I can usually count on at least one person doing something memorially stupid. Mainly, I just concentrated on it not being me. The food was Japanese style, but there were some other things mixed in and I thought overall it was pretty good. They had oden, nabe, lots of fresh sashimi, and between those three things I ate really well.

As usual the big attraction was a bingo game, and everyone checked their cards carefully to see if they won. I realized this year for the first time that there are enough prizes for everyone – the advantage of winning early is you get the first choice of prizes. Even that is a crapshoot – they are all wrapped so you have no idea what might be inside. Last year I got a puppy-shaped neck warmer, but this year I went on the principle of picking the heaviest thing I could find, and I got three small jars of honey, which I suppose is a marginal improvement.

I was sitting at a table with all men, and everyone was pretty reserved. I think they were afraid to speak to me, and to be truthful I’m not so confident in my Japanese that I can strike up a conversation with anyone. I did talk to the chemistry teacher, and he insisted that I do a lesson for his students next year on fermentation. In Japanese. Yikes!

As usual everyone was walking around pouring beer into each other’s glasses, and I made sure just to drink a sip or two. One of the waitstaff walked by and delivered a plate of sushi for the table, and she started talking to me in English. I was really surprised by it. The other guys at the table were watching us carefully – this girl was really good looking. She was probably 28 years old, tall, and she spoke English pretty well. We talked about her homestay in America (Wisconsin) and about my school. After a while I could see where the conversation was going so I started playing with my ring while we were talking, but she took no notice. Finally her boss walked by and gave her a look and she took off. After she left all the guys at the table were talking about it as if I couldn’t understand them.

Across the way there was another end of the year party for another school, and as it happens a lot of the teachers knew each other. Even I knew two of the teachers, so I chatted with them a little bit. After the party I was hanging out with a bunch of their teachers and talking only in English to give them a little confidence. There is one thing I’ve learned about living in Japan as a foreigner and speaking Japanese – you’ve got to choose the right times to use it. By using Japanese you can really change the experience of the people you are talking to, sometimes it makes them feel like their English wasn’t good enough.

While we were chatting the other school’s ALT came up and introduced herself. She had an American accent and seemed like a nice enough girl. Earlier I had seen her smoking with some of her co-workers in the lobby so there’s a strike against her. She said that she had heard a lot about me, so I wonder what that is all about.

Soon Kuniko came and picked me up, and together we went back home – stopping for some kerosene to run our new heater. It’ll be fun to check that out.