Exploring Miyazaki: A Little Bit of Now.

Many JETs pose after the welcome dinner

It is the time of year of welcome parties and summer festivals in Japan, and so lately JETs find that there is always something fun to do. It definitely adds to the excitement of life in Japan for new JETs! And of course it brings us older JETs out and having a good time socializing too ;).

This past weekend was no exception to the busyness of the season, begun with a JET welcome party and then followed by a festival and camping down by the southern peninsula of Miyazaki, Cape Toi.

The one photo I managed...
With an amazing photo bomb!
Boo ya!

To start the weekend off, our local Miyazaki JET volunteer group (MAJET) organized our big annual welcome party for all the new JET arrivals throughout the prefecture. It was a large event of about 75 foreigners getting together this year! There are about 55 JETs within the whole of Miyazaki prefecture and many of them, this year especially, have partners who came with them to Japan, making the party bigger than usual. I imagine unsuspecting locals must get quite a shock seeing that many foreigners gathered at the little ol' "downtown" cross-street at Tachibana Dori in Miyazaki!

Barno2Gatsu pic from their website.

The main event was a dinner with a 2 hr all-you-can-drink (nomihoudai, 飲み放題) at a downtown Spanish restaurant [Barno2Gatsu; バルの２月], which has some amazing red wine sangria! Mmmmm! I was too busy socializing to take many photos it seems, but it was a great time as expected!

A typical izakaya and
nomihoudai experience

By the way, nomihoudai is the timed all-you-can-drink service for you and your party and is started anytime by simply asking your waitress. They will warn your table when your time is almost up and you should do a last call. I've found nomihoudai here are about ￥2,500 (about CAD $30 today) for a few hours and they tend to include beer, wine, umeshu (梅酒 - a sweet wine-like drink made from pickled plums and sugar), shouchuu (焼酎 - a clear distilled Japanese alcohol distilled from barley, rice, or various other things), and some chu-hi (チューハイ - fruity high-ball drinks with vodka or shochu). Nomihoudai is simple, cheap, and common in Japanese restaurants and izakayas (居酒屋 - drinking and tapas bars). It is both wonderful and dangerous. I will miss this sorely when I go back to expensive dining out in Vancouver...

Small private room style karaoke

Japanese parties usually have a nijikai (二次会 - second party), sometimes even followed by a sanjikai (三次会 - third party). There were two options for our nijikai; either going to an arcade and games center or to do karaoke in a large private room with space for mingling. I am usually not the biggest fan of karaoke, though it is definitely growing on me after being here for 2 years and having some amazingly hilarious times with fellow foreigners who don't care if anyone sucks at singing, but just make it fun for all.

Away we go!
行っています！

(Highlights include male friends taking on some Disney Princess roles and a girlfriend doing deep scream-o interpretations of unlikely songs!)

Also, even if you don't want to sing, you can join in with a tambourine or maracas, free to borrow at any Japanese karaoke. These sort of experiences have really helped me to appreciate the Japanese style private room karaoke. Now the Western style on a stage at a bar in front of a bunch of strangers way just seems so weird...

Down the stairs to the left through the torii gate is the
main shrine at Udo Jingu. To the right where people
are standing is where you can throw the undama. 

After a fun Friday night though, the weekend still had more to come. The next day we headed down south towards Cape Toi, where that night a Fire Festival was being held. On the way we stopped at one of the (imo) best shrines in the prefecture, Udo Jingu, which is famous because it is in a cave along a cliff on the Nichinan coastline and so offers spectacular scenery.

Beautiful views over the cliff side.

After some research I discovered that the shrine is dedicated to Yamasachi-hiko (man of the mountain harvest), who is a deity known for hunting and who is also the father of Emperor Jimmu, the mythical first Emperor of Japan. Apparently Emperor Jimmu was either born in the cave or visited it as a young baby, and the many breast-shaped rocks nourished him. Drinking any of the water that drips in the cave is seen as especially lucky for pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing. The shrine is also known to give blessings to newlyweds.

Inside the cave shrine area.

Try to throw your stone in the pool
in the rope for good luck!

One of the things to do at Udo Jingu is to try to throw clay stones you can buy at the shrine (undama) into a water pool on a rock below, distinguished by the shimenawa rope around it. You can buy 5 of the little stones for ￥100 (about CAD $1.25 today). Of course you can also buy omikuji (fortunes) and omamori (good luck talisman) at the shrine.

The priest reading blessings towards the alter and the
assistant in the corner. As far as I know, because I was
not photographing the alter area, it was alright for me
to take this photo. 

When we were there we were lucky enough to see part of a Shinto ceremony performed on a woman, presumably blessing her (or perhaps her unborn child?). She was kneeling down with her face prostrate on the floor in the center of the room while the priest first sang / read some blessings from a scroll. Next, he moved around her waving a big golden instrument with bells and leaves over her, and a young female assistant either played the flute or beat a taiko drum in one corner of the room. It was incredibly beautiful to see.

Next, we were off to the Cape Toi Fire Festival, which I got to experience for the first time! In my first year it was canceled because of rain, and last year I was away back home in Vancouver for a visit, so the pressure was on for me to finally get to this festival in my last year! Luckily the weather reports of storms were wrong and Amaterasu (the Sun Goddess) seemed to favour us :)

Our new friend who gave
us some of his salt!

Fire wielding men
dancing around the pole!

After setting up camp at the beach on the way and making a new friend of a local salt farmer, we drove up and got to the festival just in time for the main event. The legend behind the festival is that the local village had been terrorized by an awful serpent until a monk killed it by throwing a torch into its mouth! Now, a 30 metre wooden pillar is erected upright while men dance around and throw fireballs up at it to set off some fireworks in a bucket on the top of it.

As you can see, I stayed a fair distance
away from the fireball danger zone ;p

The stage to the right.

As you can imagine, this is not in accordance with most other countries' safety standards; many miss-throws happen and the crowd has to be careful! In the hour or so that it took the men to light the pole, two people in the crowd were apparently hit with fireballs! One was a child! o.0 !! Luckily we heard that both were fine!

The snake pole is
finally lit!

Yay fireworks!

To add to the atmosphere of the flying fireballs while the snake is trying to be lit, kids chant in Japanese about banishing the snake on a nearby stage while beating taiko drums. Also, there were food stalls around selling the typical festival snacks, such as 焼きそば (yakisoba - fried soba noodles),  蛸焼き (takoyaki - fried octopus dumplings), イカ焼き (ikayaki - grilled squid on a stick), 焼きともろこし (yakitomorokoshi - grilled corn on the cob), フライポテト ("furaido potato" - french fries), かき水 (kakigori - shaved ice), and of course ビール ("bi-ru" - beer).

The ferry drops you off here and there
are suddenly monkeys everywhere!

That night we camped out at the beach across from Koujima Island (幸島) and visited the island the next day via a local ferryman / fisherman who takes you across for ￥1000/person (about CAD $12 today). While this may seem expensive, it's worth it at least once because Koujima, also known as Monkey Island, is famous for having "cultured" monkeys.

Quite an end to a weekend! 

Pretty place to be anyway!
Even without the monkeys!

In the 1950's it was observed that the monkeys there washed their food before eating it, and so since then many studies were done about primate families and animal acculturation. These days the ferryman feeds the monkeys as he brings a boatload of tourists and so they come out and are used to having people around.

Unfortunately, according to a news article from a few years ago (see link below), it seems that over-feeding because of the tourist aspect has led the monkeys to lose some of their "cultured" ways.

They are by no means tame though; you still have to be careful not to look them in the eyes or touch them, but it's exciting to be able to observe these semi-wild creatures in such close quarters. Especially cute was when we had three little siblings playing "king of the castle" and vying for top position on an old white torii gate - a more challenging jungle gym for them because of the smooth and straight edges!

(Kojima Monkeys Still Draw Scientists 5 Decades On).

In my next post;
Summer Vacation & Motivation

Exploring Miyazaki: Then

"Phase 1 forever!"

Lately I have been meeting all the new bright-eyed and bushy-tailed JETs and it has made me think of what it was (and what I was) like when I first came to Miyazaki. I was a constant ball of bubbly energy awed by everything around me! I was in Phase 1 of culture shock; the honeymoon or euphoria phase (see picture to the left for a current example of a new JET in Phase 1):

A JET's culture shock cycle

To put this in perspective for those who are unfamiliar, the JET handbook shows a typical JET's cycle of culture shock throughout the contract year (see picture to the right):

Culture shock is real, though it of course affects people differently. And it simply can't be helped, so there is no need to view the newbies' euphoria as a negative thing. For now, in this phase, I think what is most important for us who have already experienced this is to open up the channels of communication just by spending time with and helping out the new JETs as much as possible. Then later if they are struggling the other way (Phase 2 - dun dun dun!), hopefully they will reach out. And while they're having a good time, it's all gravy ;).

行きましょう！
Let's go!

The food came to our room on boat
via the water channel to the right!

In hindsight, I was certainly hit hard by this honeymoon phase and in my case I think it lasted a few months. A few posts ago I talked about what a great time I was having working with some speech contest students in my first few weeks in Japan, and so we already know my work life was pretty darn good. This time I'd like to share a bit about the social side and the wonders I experienced when first exploring Miyazaki with my new JET community. 

I was lucky enough to be placed in the "big" city in Miyazaki (pop. 400,000; though this includes many rural suburb areas surrounding the main city). Some other JETs in the prefecture are in very small towns with only a few other JETs around and not many amenities, so it can sometimes be lonely or boring for a social or outgoing person, especially if you are not great at Japanese. However, these JETs' Japanese skills do improve the fastest! Sink or swim! And, yep, you guessed it, back to my theme of human adaptability ;)

At Sun Messe Park, which has these
replica Easter Island Moai Statues

Anyway, I'm glad for being in Miyazaki City because for me it is not only convenient for finding anything I need and having many things to do, but also there are more JETs and a larger foreign community around me, which personally has been a big part of my happiness here.

We learned quickly how to "kanpai!"

In fact, I was in the teacher apartment housing block with 5 other JETs in the buildings directly around me and another 5 in some apartment buildings just a 5 minute walk away! Helllloooo automatic community! Most of the JETs directly around me were also new that year, and so all we wanted to do on weekends was get out there and explore together, and that's just what we did. And like I said in a previous post, a very special bond is made when bumbling around in a new culture as illiterate babies together.

At Aya's Teruha suspension bridge,
142m high, 250m across

Wishes are hung by Aoshima shrine

We went to the beach, onsen (温泉; hot springs) and other beautiful natural spots. We saw cultural sights like shrines, castles, and festivals. We went out to restaurants, arcades, and bars. In short we went everywhere and did everything! It's incredible knowing that the next adventure is just around the corner. They really were the best of times!

The komainu is a lion-dog
guardian protecting shrines.
They originate from the
Tang Dynasty, China.

The dragon is one of Japan's four divine
mythological creatures (also turtle, phoenix,
and kirin), and unlike European dragons,
it is a wingless water god.

I had never been to anywhere in Asia before, nor studied much about Asian culture and history, so I was especially enamoured  by all the uniquely Japanese aspects. (~ let's heap another layer onto Phase 1, eh?)

One of my favourite things about Japan is, and will always be, the traditional culture which I find so beautiful. Shrines, festivals, and castles all the way! I love discovering the long histories behind everything and the aspects of cultural significance in every little detail. Japan works hard to preserve these things; as it should - they are treasures. So if you follow this blog of my last year here in Japan, continue to expect a lot of random cultural snippets or explorations of festivals and traditional events!

And PS I love dragons. Yes, even before GOT... ;)

In my next post;
Exploring Miyazaki: Now

An Introduction to Shintoism and Shrines in Japan

In this post, I'd like to introduce the indigenous Shinto religion in Japan and explore it's basic beliefs and significant structures.

A large Buddha at a temple in Nagasaki.

I must begin by saying that the Japanese Shinto religion has been gradually influenced since 552 (or 558) by Chinese Buddhism. Chinese Buddhism worships "the Enlightened One", Guatama Siddhartha, who first taught the religion around the 5th or 6th Ce. B.C. in today's Nepal and India. Basic tenements of the religion are a belief in the constantly changing nature of the universe and ourselves, having compassion for all sentient beings, and trying to attain self-control of our lust and anger.

Look closely to see the torii in the distance.
On a rainy day at Miyazaki Jingu.
I find shrines to be beautiful, natural, peaceful places.

Japanese Shintoism is more a perspective and outlook to guide a way of being rather than a strict doctrine. It does not have a founder, written text, or exact set of ethical rules to follow. However, it is still very much a religion because it is an ancient and traditional set of beliefs that promotes divine beings, offers sacred places and rituals of worship, and explores ideas about the relationships within the universe.

Lots of well manicured greenery
at shrines, revering nature.

The word Shinto means "way of the Gods", and so Shintoism believes in the existence of various forms and levels of divine beings found throughout the universe (神 - Kami). There are generally three categories of these Kami; those associated with nature (the essence of natural rock formations or bodies of water, for example), family ancestors (especially revered by those of noble lineage), and the souls of the auspicious dead (mostly soldiers or war heros who are respected for their bravery and service).

A small offering area
with a shimenawa rope.

According to belief, the two original Kami, and creator beings, were Izanagi and his partner Izanami. Their daughter is Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, who is fittingly the most famous and prominent of the divine beings in the Land of the Rising Sun. Amaterasu is believed to be the divine ancestor of the Emperor of Japan and his lineage. While I don't believe in the mythologies associated with the religion, I still enjoy learning about them and find them interesting and beautiful, especially in terms of their uniqueness and long histories.

Torii and shimenawa in Nagasaki

Most of Japan's famous matsuri (祭り - festivals) are based on Shintoism, and usually offer a way of communication to the Gods in a specific season or to mark a certain life event. (If you continue to follow my blog, I plan to do a brief introduction of all the festivals throughout the year as I experience them). 

Typical ikebana arrangement.

Japan's traditional arts are also linked to Shintoism and adhere to its ideals, for example tea ceremony and ikebana (生け花 - traditional flower arrangement). I have been participating in my school's ikebana club for about a year now, and while the instruction and explanation of the significance is in Japanese and much of it goes over my head, I have definitely (by some kind of osmosis) come to understand some of the basic principles. I'll probably do a separate blog posting about my ikebana club at another time, but here's a photo for now ;)

The most famous (floating) torii at
Itsukushima Shrine, Miyajima

Shrines are dedicated to one of these divine beings and are specifically placed in a setting of seeming divine quality because of it's natural beauty. One of the main aspects of Shinto that I love is the respect for nature. Other important ideals of the religion, and which I also truly appreciate, are sincerity (真 - "makoto"; the main guiding force for Shinto ethics), harmony, balance, and an appreciation of aesthetic qualities. And even though there isn't a strict set of rules to abide by, Shintoism believes that these principles will guide people to lead a moral life.

Koma-inu at
Aoshima Jinja, Miyazaki.

When approaching a Shinto shrine (called a "jingu" 神宮 or "jinja" 神社) in Japan, the first thing you will always see is a large (usually) red structure, called the torii gate (鳥居). This gate marks the entrance to the sacred place.

Koma-inu at a Chinese temple in Nagasaki.

Next you will see two koma-inu (狛犬 - lion/dog/fox stone statues) which can be traced to Chinese, Korean, and even Hindu influence. They are known to be guardians who ward off evil spirits. One of these has its mouth open and the other closed, representing the "A" and "M" sounds respectively, which are seen as the first and last sounds and thereby represent the beginning and end of all things.

As you are now approaching closer to the main shrine, it is necessary for you to purify yourself. This is done with water and you will find a chozuya or temizuya (water purification pavilion) with a water dragon guardian and some ladles.

To do the purification properly follow these steps:

Water purification area
at Aoshima Jinja, Miyazaki.

1) Take the ladle in your right hand and pour water over your left hand, being careful not to let the dirty water back into the main water basin.
2) Switch hands and repeat for the right hand.
3) Swap the ladle again back to your right hand and pour some water into your left palm.
4) Take a sip of the water from your left hand to purify your mouth.
5) Wash your left hand again.
6) Pour any remaining water down the handle of the ladle to rinse the area you touched.
7) Place the ladle back face down as you found it.

When you approach the main alter, to make an offering and prayer, follow these steps;

The main offering space at a
beautiful shrine in Kumamoto.

1) Bow deeply twice.
2) Offer a coin into the saisen-bako (collection box) with a gentle toss. The luckier ones to offer are those with a hole in the center; the ￥5 and ￥50 coins.
3) Clap your hands twice (to signal to the gods that you wish your prayer to be heard).
* Sometimes you may also find a suzu (鈴 - long rope with a large bell) to make yourself heard by the Gods.
4) Silently pray.
5) Bow once more deeply to show gratitude.

An example of shimenawa rope and paper.
This is at Udo Jingu, a cave shrine in Nichinan.

Around the shrine area there are a number of other things that you should notice. One is the shimenawa (注連縄 - a large rope with white folded paper hanging from it). This marks the border of the secular area and the sacred place and can even be hung around a sacred tree or rock. The mythology behind these is actually also the story of the beginning of Japan...

The story says that at one time Amaterasu, the Sun Goddess, was saddened by her younger brother Susanoo, a mischievous storm deity. He had ruined her garden with his powerful winds and so she hid in a cave and the Gods were suffering without light. Finally, after weeks, the other Gods coaxed her out with music and dancing and then shut the door of the cave with a huge boulder so she could not return. The moment when Amaterasu came out of the cave is said to be the beginning of Japan.

"Ema" - wishes hung by a shrine in Miyazaki.

My omikuji and omamori :)

You will also see small wooden slabs hung around with a picture of a horse (the divine steed) on one side and writing on the other. These are called "ema" (絵馬) and are bought and then wishes are written on them.

Other things that you can buy are "omikuji" (御神籤), which are paper fortune slips, and "omamori" (御守り), which are material talisman. The omikuji come in varying levels of luck, and those that you see tied and left on a wooden structure are those of bad luck that are wished to be returned. The omamori come in different colours and patterns to represent luck for different things, such as health, studies, love, safe passage, general good fortune, etc.

Unfavourable omikuji are returned.

So as I continue with my blog, explaining about my life in Japan, please remember the significance of Shintoism!

Sources:

www.world-religions-professor.com
http://www.miyajima.or.jp/english/shinto.html
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2007/09/04/reference/japans-shinto-buddhist-religious-medley/#.U_aTccWSxfs

In my next post;
Shiny, Happy People Exploring Miyazaki

Getting to Know Miyazaki: The First Weeks at School

Selfie on the bus to work studying some Japanese.
Check out the pull-down curtains: "Oh noooo, Vitamin D!"

When new JETs arrive in August it is during the short, school summer vacation in between the 1st and 2nd terms. (The Japanese school year starts in April, in the spring, because this is the time of fresh starts and new beginnings). Arriving in summer vacation, there are no classes being taught and usually a JET finds him or herself in an open teacher's office with a computer and a lot of free time. I met teachers and staff, studied Japanese, organized my desk space, created lesson plans, wrote emails to friends and family back home, and helped a few students who came to me to practice for their upcoming English speech contest. But I still had a lot of free time.

The first Japanese student I ever met, and who still has made one of the greatest impressions on me, came to me for help with his speech in my first few weeks of arrival. Before I continue with this story, I must tell you a few things about Japanese schools, and mine in particular:

Student bike parking

Japanese high schools are three years of study; the equivalent of grades 10 - 12 in Canada. Before this there are three years of study at junior high school, and then six years at elementary school. Japanese high schools are specialized and divided into academic, technical, agricultural, marine, or special needs schools.

My high school, Omiya, is an academic school, and happens to be one of the top schools in the prefecture for English studies. I was well placed here because of my teacher training and also my low level of Japanese - I could still communicate well with my teachers because of their high level of English. This isn't always the case in elementary schools here, and so often JETs with higher Japanese language skills are sent to the elementary school level.

Typical hallway in my school minus the students.

Anyway, so back to my first amazing impression of and connection with a Japanese student. The first thing that struck me about this student was the way he carried himself. He stood tall, with good posture and eye contact, but was so incredibly respectful, bowing low to his superiors and waiting patiently at the door to be invited inside. He had the biggest smile and bright, attentive eyes. I could tell immediately that this student never gave up nor let anything get him down. And when he spoke to me in English I was in for another surprise - he had a British accent! This was very unusual as students in Japan are exposed to and taught American English, and no, he had not traveled abroad. As it turned out, he loved Formula 1 and often watched this as well as the BBC news. In my opinion he was doing a brilliant job of emulating the accent and my heart melted there. Already I liked this kid! However, the best was yet to come. His speech was what really touched me.

A path outside with class gardens and
some vending machines in the background

It was just after the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games and the speech began by asking the listener if they had seen the judo winners celebrating by "raising their fists in triumph"? His speech then went on to explain that in traditional Japanese martial arts this is disgraceful and your triumph is taken back. He said that some people in Japan feel that judo is no longer a martial art, but merely a sport, the major difference being that sports focus solely on winning. In contrast, martial arts focus on many things, including respect, courtesy, and having a strong and stable mind, the last of which is particularly difficult to judge.

His speech then went on to explain that his club activity was kendo, another traditional Japanese martial art, and that it was being debated whether kendo should be made into an Olympic sport. After giving a brief history of kendo, he then explained more about the traditional spirit of the sport and then defended his position that it should not become and Olympic sport because then it would "lose its spirit as a martial art". I was floored in my respect and amazement of this student and entranced by my love of the rich, traditional history of the country I was now living in. This student definitely intensified my honeymoon phase!

Inside my school gym

Over the next few weeks, this student and two others came in to get my help with their speeches. We re-wrote them until they were perfected and went through them word by word practicing pronunciation and memorization. One of the other students had studied abroad in America for a year and really did not need much of my help, which was fine. But that first student came in absolutely every day. He was incredibly diligent. I even went to see one of his kendo practices to see this amazing martial art for myself.

This was my teaching dream! I was making connections and doing useful work. I felt proud and accomplished. And while I did still have a lot of free time, this was useful while I was still getting my bearings.

My three speech contest stars!
The student whom I spoke of is in the middle :)

Later, I went to watch my three students at the English Speech Contest and they all placed! I couldn't have been more proud. However, knowing the amount of work that my first student had put in, I wish that he could have won. Understandably, the one with the experience abroad and native-sounding accent took the win.

I am one of the many teachers and ALTs here who believe that there should be a separate division for those students with experience abroad. Especially because speaking is the skill least focused on in the Japanese English education system, it's important to reward the students that volunteer for these competitions and put in huge amounts of effort and are still at such a disadvantage. It must be incredibly intimidating for them to compete alongside near-native sounding students and this probably discourages many students to try. Of course, the student to whom this story applies was nothing short of humble and gracious, as expected. <3

In my next post;
My Miyazaki Neighbourhood and Community