Category: Japan (Page 3 of 11)

I posted before about my summer vacations, and thought that I’d give a little update. Here’s what I had originally written:

• 8/10 – Go to a BBQ at the lake Go to a game center and go bowling, then take a night bus to Shizuoka (To the southwest of Tokyo, two prefectures away).
• 8/11-12 – SCUBA Training (Thank you Linda!) I’m finally doing it. I’m cashing in on my graduation gift to finally get my SCUBA certificate. I’ve already taken the written test. Now all I need to do are the dive tests.
• 8/13 – Surfing. I haven’t decided if I will do this in Shizuoka, Kanagawa, or Chiba, but there will definitely be ocean involved. It was raining, so I took the train home and relaxed and slept a little.
• 8/14 – Back to Koriyama for a summer festival with some friends.
• 8/15-17 – More travelling. Maybe to Niigata or Yamagata. They’re close to Fukushima, so it won’t be all that much travelling, but at this point I will have traveled over a quarter of Japan in less than a week. Bad weather killed these plans, so I couldn’t do any of the travelling I had originally planned.
• 8/18 – Rest before I have to go back to work? I hope so. Extend my visa for another year.

So many of my plans were bust, but not all of them.

I did get to go SCUBA diving, and got my license (well, technically, it will come in a couple weeks). While the weather wasn’t great, it was really fun. I went to Osezaki Beach in Shizuoka. On clear days, you can see Mt. Fuji across Suruga Bay, but since it was very cloudy the whole time I was there, I couldn’t get a good look. I’m hoping to go back on a clear day. I’d really like to see that view.

My friend loaned me his GoPro camera for the dive, and I made a little video for your viewing pleasure:

The quality is pretty bad because of the weather, so sorry about not being able to see anything. I could only see a little more than you can. But I must say, being able to hold an octopus was pretty cool.

I went diving for two days, and then came back to Koriyama on Wednesday where I relaxed at home and did a little bit of cleaning and packing for my summer festival in a very small town.

On Thursday, I went to a tiny town called Domeki to visit a small town festival. They were very happy to see me, as I don’t think they see many gaijin (foreigners) there, and even invited me to drum with them on their traditional drums. Pictures in the Gallery.

And here’s a video of me drumming:

On Friday, I went to Iwaki, and ate sushi and walked around by the ocean.

Yesterday and today (8/17) were just days to relax. Not doing much.

Tomorrow, I’m going to go to the immigration office in Koriyama, so I can extend my stay for another year.

Overall, this vacation was fun. I was a little disappointed at the weather, but I did get to do a lot, and I had a lot of fun.

Hope everyone enjoys. I’ll see you soon.

The wind in my face, the water all around me, the sand between my toes, and the burning sun on my face all come together to make me feel really alive.

I went surfing today for the first time. It was truly amazing. I went to Enoshima, to the south west of Tokyo, and one of my new favorite places. It gives SD a run for it’s money. The waves were really small though. It was a good time to learn to surf.

If you haven’t done it, then I highly recommend it. It’s not that tough if you get a long board, and it can be done at any age.

I’m on a two week vacation. I have two goals on this vacation. To relax, and to write.

I need to relax. The last few months have been killing me. A lot of issues have all come together to make the perfect storm. Work has been the major factor, but it’s not the only one. Being a single 30 year old in a country where it’s next to impossible to meet new people has also played its toll on my mental status. Now that I can speak conversational Japanese, I’ve learned that it’s actually a hindrance. It seems that as long as I can’t understand what people are saying, then I’m a novelty. At this point, I can understand a lot. Not everything though. When someone hears me speak in Japanese, they just don’t want to talk. When I speak in English, I get a flurry of questions. It’s so strange. Being able to speak the language has taught me so many things that I would have never picked up not knowing the language. For example, I found out that I sound gay in Japanese. There are words that are for men and there are words for women. Being a man, I have spent a good majority of my Japanese conversations talking with women. The men that I speak to insist on trying to speak English. Oh well… Time to relearn all that I’ve learned to make it more masculine. But I digress.

Secondly, I have started writing. It’s not very good, and I don’t plan on doing any publishing, but it’s a way for me to get things out of my head. I’m 20 pages into a piece (at least half is pure crap), and my goal is to get about 20 more before the end of my vacation. I’m more of a speaker. I’ve never been able to put my thoughts onto paper very well, so this is more an experiment of dedication than anything else. I am forcing myself to write. Hopefully, I can get the general idea written out on my vacation. Chapter lists and so on.

So, now to the vacation. I’m currently in Tokyo. Tomorrow, I have no idea where I’m going to spend the afternoon. I’ll go to Kawasaki tomorrow morning to drop my things off at my friend’s house, but I’m going to just wander around Tokyo until 7:00 when I’m meeting a different friend for a concert. If anyone has any requests for pics, let me know. I have some time to kill over the next few days. I may go back to the beach after this sunburn clears up (I hate being white sometimes). After that, I’ll spend some time in Kanagawa. I haven’t decided if I’ll keep traveling through my vacation, or go back early. I need to do some paperwork and go to city hall in Koriyama to extend my visa for another year. I’m not sure how long that will take. I also don’t want to spend too much money, as I plan to come back to the states for a couple weeks later this year. Maybe for Thanksgiving again. I had been planning to come in October, but it looks like that plan is going to fall through, since one of my coworkers has already put in for vacation during the entire month of October. I’ll figure all that out later. It’s time for sleep now.

Anyway, I have posted my most recent pics on my twitter. You should be able to see it on my homepage.

Talk to you later!

Oggy

Hi everyone,

I think it’s time for an update.

It’s been the sakura season here. Spring is in the air, and the sun has been out. It’s been pretty beautiful. I’ve been spending my weekends going to parks checking out the cherry blossoms, drinking beer, and taking pictures. I love this time of year.

Work has been busy, but manageable. We have some special new classes using an “internationally famous” program. I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, but we will see in time if it is as great as they claim it to be.

Anyway, this was a short sweet one. Just wanted to say hi.

I’ve updated the pics in my gallery. Enjoy =)

Tis the season of summer festivals!

It’s been a blast. It all started with the Beer festival in the last week of July. Surprisingly enough, it was the first time that I had attended this particular festival in the three years that I had been here. As far as beer festivals go, it was pretty much what I had expected it to be. Many local (Japanese) beers and the Japanese variety of German foods. There was a stage with dancing and entertainment. It was fun.

After that, we had the Uneme festival. This was the fourth time that I had attended this particular festival. I’m still not entirely sure what the story is with this one. I have heard that there are connections with another prefecture. It has something to do with a love story between Koriyama and Nara. As far as the festival goes, there are a lot of food vendors, dancing in the streets, and it was very relaxing. It’s one of my favorite weekend festivals.

After that, we have Obon, which is a week long mourning holiday. Since I don’t have any family here to mourn, it just ends up being a week long vacation. One of my friends came to visit, so we ended up seeing quite a few places in Japan. Some of which I had never seen before. The highlight was wake boarding and Kyoto. I had a few friends with a boat that took us to the lake where we went wake boarding. Needless to say, I wasn’t very good. I have only been a couple times before, and have never really been able to get up for very long. The same thing happened this time. Tried three times, and really couldn’t stay up for more than 5 seconds. haha. The next day, we went to Kyoto. We were pretty sunburned already, and it was really hot. We were still able to see a few places. Pictures added to the gallery. We rented bikes on the second day, so that we didn’t have to walk long distances.

The month of festivals ended up with the Sukugawa fireworks festival. This is the biggest fireworks festival in Fukushima. It was really amazing.

Anyway, pictures, have been added to the gallery.

See you later everyone.

Hi everyone!

I trust everyone is doing well. Just a quick update.

Spring is here. It’s amazing to be able to have the windows open and not worry about the air conditioner.

The rainy season will be starting soon, so this nice weather won’t last long I think.

Work is good. Still traveling quite a bit for classes, but it has slowed down a bit. I’m definitely not getting the overtime I was a few months ago.

Last Monday, I went to Shirakawa. It’s a small town about 40 minutes south of Koriyama. I visited Nanko Park and the small castle there. It was the first time I have visited any place in Shirakawa that wasn’t work related. It was nicer than I expected. I added pictures of the visit in the gallery.

I’d love to write more, but I’m in between classes now, so I don’t have much time. Just wanted to catch up and say hi.

By the way, my heart goes out to all those affected by the tornado in Moore. I was relieved to hear that all my friends and family are okay, but it’s still terrible, especially since some of the people hit this time are the very people who were hit by the last big one there.