And now it's Term 2

It's amazing how much time passes.... and so quickly!  It seems like just yesterday that I was soaring through the cloudless Bay of Plenty sky, disembarking at the terminal and waiting with my overstuffed suitcases giggling delightedly at the thought of seeing my family after a whole month away!

And here we are.

The term has zoomed by.  Following two days rest before returning to school, I jumped wholeheartedly back into school life, taking on all the next opportunities and challenges the term presented.  And yet, the term is almost over!

It's been a busy one!

We've been studying about New Zealand Sheep breeds' wool and its uses as garments and furnishings.  We've undertaken surveys to understand about consumers and the viability of wool as a sustainable consumer product.

We've eaten Dazaifu lollies with chopsticks ;)

We've learnt about Kodomo no hi and created carp to celebrate this special Japanese festival.  We've spoken much Japanese.... and yet.... I feel.... not enough.

We've written amazing fog writing pieces.

We've learnt about, drawn and written about Maori Atua and the link to them within our Community.

We've played Ki-o-rahi with Denzil from Turanga Health.

We've planted up our nature garden, with the help of D.O.C (in the rain!).

We've visited the Marae and helped with their planting.  We're working on artwork for the Marae, to show how much we value it as an important place within our community.

We've been given the amazing opportunity to help an author to edit his book before publishing!

It's been a great term.... and it's not over yet :)

Dazaifu

Dazaifu, Kyushu

This place is incredible!

With only about 70.000 people, Dazaifu is much less intimidating than Fukuoka.  The main part of the city - most of which you will see below, is very close together and as you can see... kirei desu ne!!

Boasting some well-known temples and shrines, it's easy to while away the hours strolling from place to place.  Many of the main attractions are close to the city centre, including Tenmangu Shrine.

The city's flower is apparently the Ume blossom and this is certainly well-celebrated during Hanami season.... when we arrived in Dazaifu, not only was the place pink with blossom, but the chefs were wearing pink, the plum ume tea we were served was pink and we were eating Umegae-mochi, which is city are famous for and has a pinky / purple stuffing

Umegae-mochi are a kind of rice flour bun stuffed with red bean paste that has a faint strawberry taste.  The whole experience is new.... the bun itself is just-cooked, so is quite gooey, the paste inside is grainy and full, but sweet and it is warm, hot from the pans in fact!  

I will update this blog as I go, filling in details about the shrines and temples (one of which, with the flowers and tea kettle, was celebrating Buddha's Birthday with sweet tea) and ruins, but for now..... enjoy the video :)

Yabusame - Japanese Archers

Yabusame

On Sunday of my first whole weekend in Fukuoka, our language school suggested that we head to Yanagawa to see Yabusame.  

I really had no idea what it was we were going to see but it sounded fun and I was looking forward to another outing with our language group, who were very entertaining.  Tanoshii desu. (Very funny!)

We all met at the school so we could help the others to find the right train (the train to Yanagawa is on the same line as we take to Ijiri Station where we live).  A few minutes later we were steaming through beautiful countryside towards Yanagawa.

Arriving in Yanagawa I could see why the managers of our hostel had been so excited about us travelling there and why they had exclaimed over and over 

"Kerei desu!" which in Nihongo means "Pretty!"  and pretty it was - actually beautiful would have been more appropriate - amazing and outstanding even better  - even breathtaking would have fit! :)

The blossoms were still flowering profusely there and Yabusame was held in a park that had many beautiful shrines and an otera (temples) as well.  

It wasn't long before lots of people began to arrive and by the time we had collected our lunch and returned, it was quite hard to find a good place to view the events!

Yabusame was orginally created in order for samurai to improve their archery skills... and I've no doubt it did - anyone who can canter in a straight line, take and fit an arrow aim it to their left and hit a 30cm square target as they thunder past is pretty skilled in my books!  

The most impressive thing about this event was that even though many women don't engage in this kind of sport (I haven't even seen many women exercising in Japan!!!) one of the top marksmen was in fact a woMAN!  Go girl power!

We watched the display with great interest, attempting to understand the rules of the tournament without understanding all the language used and smiled at the crowd's oohs and aaahs.  In Japan, even some onomatopoia (sounds) are different to English ones!  They don't say BOOM!  but rather...... actually I don't remember, but will update this once I ask my knowledgeable companion again!

Everyone was on the edge of their seats as the final round took place... it was won by the eldest rider - perhaps the wisest?  Certainly on the day, the one with the greatest skill :)

I wonder if horse sports would like to add this event to their already full programme?

Omoshiroi desu ne!  Interesting!

Hanami

Hanami

Hanami  - literally 'flower-viewing' is a Japanese Festival held throughout March and early April, depending on the forecast of the weather bureau.  In Fukuoka in 2010, the blossoms have bloomed throughout the end of March and the first two weekends I was in Japan were deemed the best for Hanami.

The best thing about Fukuoka Hanami is that while there are sakura (cherry blossoms) everywhere, there are a number of parks and cities where the collections are particularly spectacular!

Maizuru Park is located just a few blocks from where I attend Language school and I happened to stumble upon it one day while attempting to find a reasonably priced fruit shop!  

Maizuru Park, looking towards Fukuoka Government Buildings

Later, I discovered, the legendary Ohori Koen (the park that Fukuoka is famous for - with a huge lake 2km around) is also linked to Maizuru Koen (Koen:  Igirisu de: Park) and on Saturday 26th March, my travelling companion and I made our way there for what was to be a spectacular day!

We spent the afternoon walking the park, exclaiming over the sakura and working hard to get the perfect shashin (photo).  Smiling, we watched as families gathered underneath the blossoms to share a communal picnic.  We watched in amusement as employees appeared hours prior to the picnic to reserve a spot under the best tree and waited out the cold hours until the higher ranked employees arrived.  Later, we grinned in delight as large circles of friends and employees bowed simultaneously, chorusing 'Kampai!'

Later, walking home, we were able to take in the full glory of sakura, lit up by many lanterns and lamps, some set up just for Hanami.  The most impressive ones were those atop the walls of the ruins of Fukuoka Castle walls.  The contrast of the tiny pink or white clouds of blossom above the heavy blocks of stone was the perfect composition.

The following day we travelled to Yanagawa to see Yabusame - archery on horseback - more about that later....

the blossoms were the perfect backdrop for the competition and later, whilst river punting, we got to enjoy the blossoms from our gondolier.  It was one of the top ten highlights in all my 30 years.  I can't thank Yanagawa enough.

 

Spring is here.... and in Japan you can't forget it... there are too many reasons to celebrate.... who would want to miss out!

Tonkatsu no Tenjin ni naka ga arimasu.

Komban wa ロオマ　四　and Minasan!

The food is Japan is fabulous!  I'll have to update this website as I go, as I haven't tried everything yet and don't have photos of everything I have tried, but for only having been here a couple of days I think I have done pretty well.  I've really struck a goldmine in coming to Japan at this time, as a wonderful woman is here with me as well.  Jess has been to Japan before and most times has lived with a host family, so has been and sampled much Japanese food!

What I have been most surprised at, is that there are a number of other nationalities' dishes that are very popular here.  In my experience so far, the two that seem to be the most popular are Italian and Indian!  Neither are traditional forms of food originating from those countries, but the dishes are very influenced....  curry and rice, but made with pork (とんこつ)　or beef, and Italian carbonara.

However, tonight I'm not here to list other national dishes... I'm here to celebrate those that really make Japan a delicious place to be :)

そば

Soba

I thought I'd begin with one of the dishes that I have found the most plain but also refreshing so far..... soba.  Soba noodles are probably found in many different dishes, but during my flight to Japan they were served on the plane.  The noodles were green, thin and cool, the perfect texture and surprisingly refreshing as I poured a little soy sauce over them.  Eating any kind of noodles with chopsticks is a challenge, but with the addition of soy sauce, you must be very skillful with your chopsticks to prevent splattering your clothes !

すし

Sushi

Perhaps the most well-known of all Japanese foods, sushi comes in more colours than the rainbow and a true sushi experience is like no other.

Made with everything from avocado and cream cheese, to salmon, egg, fish roe, crab, pickled Japanese radish (which is yellow), shrimp, whale and even horse (!!!) sushi has something to offer everyone.  Sometimes it's hard to know just by looking whether or not a combination will be appetizing, so it's best to try as many as you can (though I must admit I didn't try either horse OR whale {Are you proud Room Yon?} and according to our American JET Teacher residing in Japan we aren't missing much, unless you enjoy a mouthful that takes time to chew your way through)!  

Check out this video to see how you can select and take sushi plates from the self-serve belt next to the booth.  At the end, you pay based on the colour of the plates you chose - each plate has a different value, ranging from ¥158 to about ¥300 depending on where you go.

おこのみやき

Okonomiyaki

This dish is sometimes referred to as a Japanese pancake, though I thought it was more like a fritter.   The most entertaining part about this dish is that it is prepared right before you, on a huge hot-plate set in front of you,  joined to the bar at which you sit to eat.

You really feel looked after in a Japanese restaurant....

*If you need to wait for a table to be free (and in Japan, this happens a lot at mealtimes when the restaurants are busy!) there are always seats outside (though not always enough ;)

*While you wait for your food a waiter/waitress always comes to fill your glass with iced water (and in Japan it is free - not like the Pump bottles that you must now PURCHASE at McDonalds in NZ if you are thirsty for water!).  Not only will they do this, but they will, whenever your glass is getting a bit on the low side, return politely to your side and refill it for you!

*Often you are able to see the food being prepared... so you know exactly what's going on your plate!

*You are welcomed into the restaurant (with a shout - a bit scary to get used to at first) and always sent off with a holler too - I must learn to shout "gochi so sama deshita!" in return - my voice is a bit quiet in Japan!

But, I digress.....

Okonomiyaki is a mixture of vegetables and egg and sometimes meat or seafood (mine was ebi {shrimp/prawn}, cuttlefish and scallop - I know Mum... you're jealous!! ) mixed briskly to combine and placed onto a hotplate to cook.  Once it is cooked it is cut into quarters, coated in thick soy sauce and a fancy patterned squirt of mayonnaise and topped with fish flakes (very strong and salty) and spring onion - Yum!!!  This is placed on a cast iron hotplate and presented to you, complete with a little slicer that looks a bit like a bbq tool with the wooden handle and chopsticks.  This is great fun to eat, because it takes a bit of practice to separate the ominoyaki with the chopsticks, but is very easy to pick up once you do!  

Check out the video below for a preview of okonomiyaki cooking - the noodles are another yummy dish available at this restaurant.

オウライス

Omuraisu

This dish also quickly became one of my favourites!  The name, in katakana, obviously comes from an English meaning.... basically it is just a shortened version of omelette rice.   It is a very simple, but tasty dish consisting of a ball of rice contained within an omelette.  This tasty morsel, which is about the size of my fist, is perfectly accompanied by a delicious pool of mild curry and vegetables.  The dish that I selected was called 'Iroiro yasai no omukarii' which basically means' various vegetables with omelette curry'.  It was delicious... oishii desune?!

See below for the photos of the Kariiraisu Menu and my meal!

とんこつ　らめん

Tonkotsu Ramen

Me?  Noodles?

My kids know that I despise noodles.  Years of hungrily ‘cooking’ noodles in cups with water boiled in a dorm room kettle (at boarding school), have left me with an utter disdain for noodles.  However, in Japan, I must do as the Japanese do….. and be pleasantly surprised!

Ramen is what Fukuoka is famous for.  You can find ramen in the yatai (street stalls) in downtown Fukuoka at night – they appear in small tents on the footpath at about 5pm and the smell is divine. 

However, should you want the full dining experience, the place that I visited for ramen was fantastic.  This little shop is just through the Solaria Plaza in Tenjin, heading up a little street that looks like what Kiwi call Chinatown.  It is also on the second floor and so provides the diner with a great view of an area that seems to become inundated by students at night. 

Shuffling hungrily in the door, you are met by the most amazing scent!  Slipping off your shoes and sliding them under the dining platform, one should shuffle on their knees to the waiting cushions and kneel before the table.  Red lanterns adorn the large glass windows and in the warmth, with a great view, you can settle down to peruse the menu and believe me, you are spoilt for choice!

This time however, I was on a mission for tonkotsu ramen – the Fukuoka specialty, which is noodles in a broth made from pork bones and topped with this slices of pork and spring onions (and another garnish, indistinguishable to my untrained eye, though my companion surmised it was probably a form of kelp, thinly sliced).  Unable to pass it up, I ordered a side dish of chicken rice. Both were delicious!

Well, there I must leave you.... my experience of Japanese cuisine is still new, but impressive over my first four days in Japan and I will add more as I continue.....

after all, I still haven't mentioned the green tea smoothies

or Mister Donut...... ;)

Still not here to update you on Mister Donut... but 

I have found the most amazing place - (and totemo yasui desu!) just around the corner from where I'm living in Ijiri!  

Jess and I arrived back from Yabusame and River Punting in Yanagawa; both tired and hungry.  Too tired to travel back to Tenjin and search (open-mouthed) at the array of food establishments and displays in shop windows before finally selecting one, we had disembarked in our own small village.  I wasn't relishing the idea of painstakingly making our way from street to street, trying not to get lost in the twists and turns of our unusual area in order to find nourishment, so when Jess pointed and said, 'How about there?' I rapidly agreed! I'm so pleased I did!

We opened the door, greeted by warmth and delicious aromas.  Peering around hungrily we easily selected dishes based on the pictures on the wall and were pleasantly surprised by the the price!  Perhaps it was that we had to retrieve our own chopsticks, water and collect our trays from the counter, but for a delicious meal nearly half the price of what we had been paying in town, we were more than happy to do so.  

I selected a pork and curry mix that I think was called Katsu-Kare.  It was delicious!  Afterwards we filled our vessels with cups of steaming green tea.... as many times as we liked.

Totemo omoshiroi!

First day of school!

おはよお　ごじあます　Rooma Yon, Family and Friends!

I hope you're all having a great day!

I'm still working out how to load my videos - I put them on last night but they uploaded to iPhoto and now I can't seem to transfer them.

I have some photos though, that I thought I would share with you this morning!

(Cubicle in the lounge in Kansai airport that we rented so we could sleep - my travelling teacher friend (Ms Ware from Otago Girls High School) and I had one each and you could unlock the little division between them and slide it back so it was like being in the same room!)

(View from my apartment room at the dorm - looking out over Fukuoka.  It gets dark really quickly here once the sun is gone - this is taken at about 9pm)

(View from my apartment this morning!)

(There are lots of trees in Ijiri - where we live, but also lots of big concrete buildings! - I must get a photo of the hills though, they look very much like ours at home - dark green with sharp tops and scarred with erosion too - I understand why they don't build houses on them!)

Anyway, I must go, because I still haven't found an adaptor for my laptop and I only have half my battery left - it seems most appliances in Australia and NZ only have two diagonal prongs and not three, so it's difficult to get the right adaptor).

Hope all are well

I'm enjoying my adventure  - it's very overwhelming, but great fun - talk about being in the pit!!!

Ja mata,

Williams Sensei

Fukuoka

Japan

Kansai Chaos

(Tired traveller - 12 hours into the journey! - not there yet!)

こんばんわ　ロオマ　四

Kombanwa Rooma Yon!

(View to Osaka - can you make out the giant ferris wheel through the haze?)
(View from Gate 19 at Kansai Airport - Osaka across the sea)

Wow!  I don't even really know where to start!  Today has been a day of excitement - a very long day!

Very brief overview:

Flew out of Auckland on Air NZ at 12midnight 20th March

Watched The Proposal on the plane - heaps to do on big planes - movies and games and music videos - was well looked after by friends of my mum's friend :)

Ate beef and potatoes and green soba noodles and sushi for 'dinner' at midnight

Got a few hours sleep

Woke up at 5am Japan time

Had breakfast - scrambled egg and sausage and tomatoes and fruit and yoghurt

Flew into Kansai airport in Osaka and got straight on a rail train that took me to another part of the airport

Got fingerprinted at customs and had my 'mugshot' taken - this is a precaution that everyone must obey - no fingerprint, no entering Japan

Slept in a cubicle in the lounge in Kansai for a few hours - was about 1.5m by 2m with a computer and chair - photos of that soon!

Got on another plane to Fukuoka

Arrived late - was meant to have someone from AFS meet us but they never showed up

Got in a taxi - after being waved away by a few who didn't want to bother with our english (!!)

Taxi driver had noooooo idea where to take us!

Travelled down these tiny lanes barely wide enough for our taxi and eventually go to the right place

Got lost trying to find the station and convenience store

Found our way home and then to the convenience store where we bought noodles and this sponge cake stuff for dinner!

Bought HOT coffee from a vending machine on the way home - it comes in a can like a coke can only smaller!

Have finally had a shower and food and made my bed - more on that later - and am really ready for sleep - jetlag is making me feel like I'm experiencing vertigo - like dizziness and the floor feels like it's on a lean!

Strange things I've encountered today:

Japanese books open from what we call the back, and read from the back to the front!

Japanese toilets flush automatically when you stand up! Which is a great thing because there are so many buttons on them you wouldn't want to try to work them on your own!

Heated toilet seats - feel a bit strange - like someone's already been sitting there :)

Taps levers push down to turn on and soap dispensers are automatic - soap squirts into your hand when you put it under the dispenser - and it's like foam, not liquid soap

The fact that lots and lots and lots of Japanese food is sweet and in packages, not like rice and fresh veges at all!  They have heaps of lollies

We have a $2 shop - Japanese people have a Y100 shop

Anyway, I'm busy trying to upload a movie of the takeoff from Kansai for you, but I'm not sure it's working.... I can hear the train from here... the station is quite close by.  

Have a great Monday and enjoy your 'new' teacher!

Signing off.... from a very small room in a very busy country

Williams-Sensei