Every country has that something special that makes them instantly recognisable. For the French it may be the beret, Austrians the suspenders and feathered hat, Japanese the yakuta, but for South Africans it must be that green and gold Springbok rugby jersery. At the train station, I cought just a glimpse of the back of the jersey, but that was enough. I knew… So I bounded exuberantly over to the man. After pointing to his shirt and myself and “Minami Afurika-ing” a few times, he said that he’d been in South Africa a week before. It was slightly surreal to think this man waiting nonchalantly for his train had been on the other side of the world, in my home, just a few days before. I’ve always been proud of South Africa but living in a foreign country really brings out my patriotic streak. I’ve even been looking out for how the bokke are doing so you must know! Well done for their effort on Sunday. Bummed they didn’t get through. Going to avoid the Ausies here for a while 🙂

Yesturday was my first full day exploring Tokyo. Rod and I got up with the birds to catch the Japan Rail train. Two and a half hours and three trains later we arrived at Harajuku station. Shops only open at 10AM so we had breakfast at cosy western style cafe. While Rod observed an Iaido competition at a local school, I hit the city. I find the best way to get to know a new place is to walk and discover as you go along. I had my trusty google maps app and so headed off along the main road. I had arrived in brandland. There was everything from Diezl and Gap to Chanel and Japanese punk-chic brands! The best part was seeing all the people walking around. There is no question that Japan is a leader in the fashion world. I found my way to Shibuya crossing (the busiest crossing in the world averaging more than a million pedestrians per day). The zebra crossings criss-cross over each other and when that man in the light turns green streams of people flood the road in a dash to get where they are going. Then suddenly the surge comes to a halt as the man flashes red. It is quite orderly but you have to keep moving and know where you want to go. As I was walking, a tall yellow building caught my eye: Tower Records. What a find! I had read that it was in the area but had no idea where to find it. The ground floor has a bit of everything but the upper floors are the main attraction. First floor has J-pop (super popular in Japan especially with our students), second floor has hip-hop and reggae, then on the third floor is rock, pop and oldies so I spent a fair bit of time there. The fourth floor is jazz, world and new-age, fifth is classical (so cool how the Japanese appreciate classical music!), and the sixth floor has imported books. There’s a decent selection of fiction, non-fiction, graphic novels, art books and more. There was lots to see and do (including Kiddy Land and the Oriental Bazaar) but the cherry on the cake was dinner at a romantic restaurant tucked away off the main street. We had a great chat to a the owner, a Toykoite with superb English, and a scrumptious meal that went down well with a draft of Kirin beer.

Japan has many of the same foods as South Africa but there are definately differences. For example, you get apples and onions but they are giant size- like double our regular size- which is actually exceptional considering that most things here are way smaller than back home. You also get very unusual foods including seaweed everything (in soup and sushi and sweets), bean paste (often lurking in what looks like a standard breadroll), and whole squid. I love walking through the fish section of our local supermarket to see what they are selling. We had a great supper last week of a fish similar to snoek. It was crammed with tiny bones, clung to everything it touched, with a taste worth the time it took to pick out the edible bits. People from Rod’s school have been so kind and given us bucket loads of fresh fruit and veg. I thought one of the things was a baby marrow but when I cut into it discovered it was a cucumber! Incidently, the japanese like to eat cucmber neat and I’ve seen whole cucumbers on a stick being sold at a food vendor. Another of the things we got was a kabocha squash. I wasn’t really sure how to cook it so just popped the whole thing in a pot with boiling water and crossed fingers. Fortunately it came out beautifully. It’s a lot like pumpkin. Cooking with new ingredients is a lot of fun, but it has also been quite stressful not knowing if we are going to be able to eat my latest concoction. Fortunately there are lots of delicious baked goodies and best of all… chocolate! To the next culinary adventure!

It’s amazing how good a bus ride can be after weeks of climbing steep hills to school. It’s something of a reward to see how far you cam get on your own legs, when viewed from the comfort of an air conditioned ride.

The reason I took the bus, after so many days of a 40 minute slog uphill, is because tomorrow we climb mount Fuji, thee highest mountain in Japan at 3776m. Someone commented that we would be “mounting Fuji all night long”, because to make the most of the view we want to be at the summit for sunrise.

There had been a load of prep to do, particularly getting gear that we didn’t bring, and it’s almost all sorted now, all that’s left us rest and carbo loading.

Pictures

You’ll notice a lack of pictures on the site. We’re hoping to have Internet at home next month and then will load all the pics we’ve been saving.

Phrase of the day

Atsui desu ne: “it’s hot, isn’t it”. With temperatures in the 30’s and the sun up from 5 till 6:30, Gunma Japan is plenty hot. We’ve been drinking water like it’s air. Luckily the evening storms cool things down and make it quite pleasant.

Maebashi Fireworks

On Saturday one of the teachers from my school invited us to the fireworks display in Maebashi, the capital of Gunma. Maebashi is a hop skip and a jump from Shibukawa, so we’ve made the trip three times over the past five days.

The fireworks were really impressive, despite the smaller scale this year due to the disaster. Fireworks included, besides the “normal” flower like fireworks, anime characters and smiley faces, and even hearts.

A good tip for night time events in Summer is mosquito repellant, otherwise you’ll be scratching the next day.

Yes, it’s true. You can make spam sushi!

It comes in a can
And it smells like ham
But it’s SPAM!

Watch the clip that started it all.

It was 35 degrees C today! Aircon for the win!

Every day I feel a bit like the Karate Kid, missioning up a mountain (going to school), discussing philosophy or experiencing this beautiful and ancient culture. On my way to school I walk past bonsai, watch kyudoka (archers) setting up for practice and see beautiful examples of Japanese pottery. While I have yet to practice any Iaido, I’m learning Japanese daily and getting super fit at last, cycling and walking the 40 minutes to school each day.

I’m hoping that I’ll get all the equipment I need for Iaido next month, but the nice thing about having done a martial art for awhile is that you have a few tricks up your sleeve for practicing without the gear, so that’s been quite energizing to me really.

Julia

I don’t really write on behalf of Julia because I’d rather she posted her own thoughts on the blog, but she is doing well and really enjoying meeting with her students. She’s become somewhat of a celebrity there. Julia is also getting into Japanese cooking, which I’m enjoying. It’s much more expensive to eat like we do in SA, so getting into rice, cabbage, onion and fish is essential.

Word of the day

Today’s word is Ken. Ken means sword, so kendo means “way of the sword”. Japan has strong historical ties to the sword and we’ll often think of the samurai when we think of Japan. The truest form of swordsmanship in Eastern society is the concept of “no sword” or to win without violence, a concept that is not often comprehended in Western society.

Link of the day

Learn some kanji here.

Read enough “How to” sites about blogging and you’ll see a common theme: blog often. But if you’ve just moved to a new country, left family and friends behind, started a new job (even possibly career path) and delved into a culture totally alien to your own, you realize that blogging often is a necessity. There really is too much to write about. So, while I’m still working on a post about our first week in Japan, I’ll leave you with this:

Hajimemashite.
Watashi wa Rodney desu.
Doze yoroshiku onigaishimasu.

Loosley translated to:

Hi for the first time. I’m Rodney. Please treat me well.

I just wanted to write a quick post to update everyone. We’ve organized an apartment and I’m typing this out on my first ever brand new cell phone, an iPhone 4! We are staying in a hotel tonight and tomorrow move into our new pad. We would not have done it without our most helpful and hospitable supervisors. The Japanese really are as hospitable and friendly as everybody says. Till later!