New places, new faces.

Tomi's Shortbread House
On my way downtown I pass a small, very British looking shop, but most days it's already closed before I finish work. I finally ventured in not too long ago, and I was so glad I did. As I walked in, I was greeted by the sweet Japanese owner who had the most London accent you could imagine. We spoke for over an hour reminiscing about England and she welcomed me with open arms & big hugs.
Today Tsuruya, one of the department stores downtown, currently has a British food fair. I spent my afternoon sampling craft beers, ciders, Welsh cheeses, marmalade & made a visit to the shortbread stand to spread my love to my new favourite baker in Kumamoto. It's nice to have somewhere to go where I can feel a bit of a home away from home, even if it's just to look at some tartan & smell some proper butter.

My new nail salon - Calm Place Palette
Following Okinawa, I had to find a nail place to frequent in Kumamoto, and the one I found did not disappoint! After exchanging numerous pictures I went to meet the most adorable girl ever, and spent my time teaching her some English. She was thoroughly amused by the word "thumb" of all things, and my Japanese is really benefitting from just chatting to her. I left so happy with how they looked, and all of my students love how I have Rilakkuma nails... cue the squeals of 'kawaii' at me daily.
Check out her Instagram @kao_comocomu and await the next designs we'll have in store!


Taiko
I went taiko drumming for the first time with Chloe & Kim, which is probably something you'd recognise being performed at various festivals around Japan. Within two minutes of walking into the room I already had a rather large drum thrusted upon me with no clue what to do. It's actually a lot more difficult than it looks, so we spent almost an hour practicing how to hit the drum properly, the positions they use, and how it all ties together.
The second half was more my thing, when I got given a tiny tambourine size drum and a stick with a ribbon. We began learning a dance that is going to be performed next year sometime, and bloody hell, talk about multitasking to the max! Everyone was so welcoming and even though that is miles away from me too, I really enjoyed it and can't wait to try again. Next time, I've promised myself to not just be aimlessly twirling myself around with a stick in my hand.
  

Kumamoto Sweetie Lady Bears

I know, what a name. I finally bit the bullet and dragged Sheridan along to try out some rugby with me. The girls were all so lovely and despite being a hot mess to say the least, I really enjoyed it! We actually train at the same sports park where the Rugby World Cup venue in Kumamoto is. The only downside is that there's a treacherous 40 minute trek to get there going through rice fields in the pitch black. If I don't blog again, you know I've been murdered by some haunted scarecrow.
I've no idea who saw me, but all the rugby lads at my junior high the next day were nagging me about when I'd come to watch them. This month, my schedule ties in really nicely with theres, so I'll actually be able to go and support them like they want.

In terms of the activities I've chosen, I'm a bit worried for my clumsy self being in proximity of my students. I now play rugby with two students, and go taiko drumming with another. The rugby girls kept it quiet until I saw them in school, cue me feeling like an awful person. My junior high school has 600 students alone, so I have to cut myself some slack when it comes to recognizing my elementary school students which are in utter abundance.
I can see it happening now though:
"Why do you have a broken arm?" "Keito-sensei tackled me."
"Why have you got a black eye?" "Keito-sensei hit me with a drum stick."
Nothing is sacred in this city anyway, since the Chinese whisper culture of what the foreigner is up to is ridiculous. Let's just hope I don't actually injure the kids.

Kumamoto City JHS Recitation Contest

Following on from my last post, I think it’s safe to say I was close to death (not that I’m being melodramatic at all). I had to take a sick day, visit a doctor, and despite him giving me enough medicines to open my own pharmacy, with the Kumamoto City English recitation contest the next day I still felt bloody awful. The struggle of me heading to school was made worthwhile when I could see my students visibly relax when they saw me. They’d been practicing solely with me for weeks, and the fact I was on my death bed the day prior to the contest had them all on edge thinking I’d abandoned them.

Admittedly, the entire competition was pretty dire. There’s only so many times you can hear a depressing rendition of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima with children imitating a crying child. I’ve got my party piece sorted now though; I could tell you the story of Ben, Mary and the stolen cow in my sleep. I was so proud of my students, with my first and second graders earning 5^th and 6^th place in their respective years out of 42 schools in the city. Third grade was a much tougher crowd, and after earning 54/60 and praise for their ‘very good pronunciation and intonation’, they didn’t even place.

One student told me “I’m not disappointed, I’ll just do better next year”, which I think aptly sums up their attitude to learning. I didn’t mind spending both my lunch time and after school helping every day when the kids willingly took on board my weird sounds, tongue actions and acting, knowing I was only doing it to benefit them.

Now the contest is over, I can fully see how they appreciated my efforts, as now the stress is gone, they are much more comfortable with me than they ever were. They don’t see me as some unapproachable foreigner, but rather someone who can help them. Finally the 1^st graders are warming up to me, which is nice since they’ll be the ones I’ll be teaching throughout junior high, unlike the 3^rd graders I’ve befriended who’ll be graduating in April.

I’m happy to report that none of my students whipped out a Scouse accent on stage at the contest, but I definitely think me being so hyper aware of my pronunciation sometimes has resulted in me having the dodgiest accent ever. I shift from my Japanese, to American-isms in class, to Australian moments because I spend that much time with Sheridan, and back to Scouse when I speak to people from home. At this rate, I’ll be the one needing my students to teach me. 

Kagoshima – The city shadowed by one of Japan’s most active volcanoes

I’d been wanting to visit Kagoshima for some time, and after being told day in and day out by my parents to watch Joanna Lumley’s Japan documentary, which I did, I was even more sold. This weekend worked out perfectly for that, as not only did I have yet another wonderful Japanese public holiday on Monday, my junior high school gave me daikyu (time off in lieu) on Tuesday in order for me to go to their culture festival this weekend.

Ironically, the day I went on a trip to see one volcano, the one in my prefecture erupted; cue lots of worried messages from people. Fear not everyone, Mt. Aso is a still a fair few miles away (28.6 to be exact). I can only see it smoking in the distance from one of my schools on a GOOD day…

Mt. Sakurajima was by far the highlight of my trip. I was pretty annoyed that the first two days I was in Kagoshima the weather was awful, as most of my plans revolved around taking pictures of said volcano, which under cloud cover looked like a rather unimpressive hill. However, I still kept my plans and had faith.  I went to Sakurajima Island and honestly felt like I’d been transported to Jurassic Park. The hikes I did were beautiful, and despite the torrential rain and not being able to go to the observatories, I had a lot of fun exploring. The next day, my persistence paid off, and after a leisurely stroll through the city, along the pier and to both Ishibashi and Gionnosu Park, I was rewarded with some stunning views of the volcano just 4km away.

 It was a very curry-themed trip, as my first day I stumbled across the first ever Kagoshima curry festival with vendors from all over Japan. It kind of reminded me of the food festival we have at home, and it smelt wonderful. I met up with an old friend Taka, who I met at Keele, for the first time in almost 3 years. He’s a Japanese teacher of English and has his own ALT, and the fact I got placed just one prefecture away is a stroke of luck. Who knows, if he didn’t work at an all-boys school I could have been working with him daily. He took me to eat soup curry, a weird hybrid I’d thoroughly recommend anyone to try too!

After taking me to the most amazing izakaya with alcoves, multiple levels, lanterns and disco balls, he suggested for us to eat raw chicken. Apparently it’s very popular in Kagoshima as it pairs well with the shochu (rice liquor) famously produced there. However my internal screams of *salmonella, salmonella* quickly shut him down. I didn’t know that was a thing, nor should it be. Even worse when I Googled it and found it’s not even thinly sliced, just cobs of the stuff.

   

The thing I love about travelling alone, especially in Japan, is that the most random people strike up conversations with me. At the curry festival, two high school girls came up to me to practice their English and wanted a selfie. That’s probably on their Instagram now with my face embezzled with kawaii stickers for all I know. The old people are super adorable too, but my god, I understand the difference of Kagoshima-ben now… they’re definitely the Scousers of Japan! I can now empathise with everyone having to deal with my accent not sounding like Queen’s English, because I didn’t have a bloody clue.

As I’m writing this, one of my teachers is shouting 'kawaii' at me whilst opening the polar bear cookies I brought back as omiyage. I think that alone makes up for the fact I’m sat looking and feeling like death, stereotypical Asian face mask on (which traps my breath, making me sweat even more than the cold sweats I already have), with no voice to speak of two days before a city-wide English speaking competition.
Sorry children, you’re on your own now, I’m going to spike my lemon & honey with some whiskey to make it through the week.

Gotochi - my new collection

As many of you may know, I'm an avid collector of cheap, plastic, made in China snowglobes from places I visit worldwide. However, something I noticed on my last trip to Japan was that snowglobes are about as common as fairy dust.

So alongside decorating my apartment, I came up with a super fun way for me to do a similar thing, but in a very Japanese fashion. Unless you live under a rock, you'll know I have a huge, sometimes concerning, Hello Kitty obsession.

I've bought a map of Japan, and I'm starting to collect Gotochi Hello Kitty's. You can learn more about them here http://www.itoyoshi.net/kitty.html, but they're basically small charms that are themed, usually to local tourist attractions or regional delicacies.

Disclaimer: The Rilakkuma one from Tokyo is a special exception.
It's from the limited edition Yamanote line Rilakkuma-themed train.

There are so many to get, but I'm aiming to get one for each of the 47 prefectures at least. It's nice to be able to put them on my map at home; to remember where I've travelled, and something that makes that area unique.

1. Fukuoka - Hakata strawberry

2. Kumamoto - Kumamon (prefectural mascot)

3. Kagoshima - Satsuma Sakurajima daikon (radish)

4. Kyoto - Kiyomizu dera (temple)

5. Okinawa - Chinsuko (sugar cookie)

I still need to get ones from Osaka, Nara, Tokyo and Yokohama, all of which I visited before I started this. If anyone wants to help out on that front, that'd be great!

Undoukai: The Japanese sports festival

Yesterday, I was asked to attend one of my elementary schools sports festivals. From the word go I was playing the clueless foreigner card, as I had no idea what was going on for the majority without asking a few questions.

The day was a mixture of the usual races, dance performances, and other events that were only comparable to something you’d see on Total Wipe-out. The second graders at all of my elementary schools have been wandering around with flower basket hats lately, and I finally got a chance to watch this schools rendition of hanagasa, or “flower basket dance”, which melted my heart.

One thing I absolutely loved about the day is that only certain grades compete in a designated race for that year. That meant all of the students got a chance to compete, and despite being split into the “red phoenix” or “white dragon” team, the amount of enthusiasm, teamwork and comradery was something I’ve never seen at sports days back home. It was lovely to see how the children also consider themselves one big family, with the 6^th graders taking it upon themselves to comfort the little ones if they came last or fell over.

Did I mention I got roped into racing 4^th graders in their 100m dash? God forbid a child is sick and their race has one less participant. At least I showed willing, and if anything, gave the kids a slight panic attack amidst their exclamations of “eh? Keito sensei?!” at the start line.

Along with bumping in to a few teachers from my other schools, who were pleased to know I was teaching their kids, I found a British companion. She has been living here for 15 years after coming to teach English, and found out about me thanks to a rather large picture of me in the school newsletter; one I was completely unaware of might I add. It’s nice to know someone who’s got their life settled in Kumamoto, but can also relate to the position I’m in. I’ve already been invited to afternoon tea too!

In the evening, I was invited to the schools enkai celebrating their successful day. This was hands down the liveliest enkai I’ve been to, as the teachers had the day off today. The highlight had to be everyone dancing to the music from the festival earlier, and I’m not sure what I loved more; the cute hanagasa by the 2^nd graders, or the drunken rendition at a Chinese restaurant using seat cushions in place of a flower basket. Once the words nijikai (second party) were mentioned, I had to put my foot down before being bullied into karaoke by my principal. He wanted to perform “Bridge Over Troubled Water” for me, something that will have to wait until next time, as I’m not usually one to turn down a bit of karaoke.

All in all, I had a great day, despite wallowing in self-pity at my desk now. I’m pretty sure I hallucinated the smell of a bacon butty earlier, which helps explain my current state, but here’s to regretting drinking a bottle of plum wine, and waiting for 5pm to come. Happy Monday!

Welcome to Kurokami Sunrise

Although it’s nowhere near being finished, I thought I’d give a little tour of my apartment here in Kumamoto. It’s not the biggest, but definitely more than enough space for just me, or any guests who want to visit *hint hint*.

I’m currently trying to put my own stamp on it, which is something that will take time, mainly due to people stopping me from buying “unnecessary” Hello Kitty items to fill the place up. I know I’ve started to hit adulthood though, since I now enjoy homeware stores a little too much, and my most exciting purchases lately were a blender and a kettle.

I have two tatami rooms, which I have a definite love/hate relationship with. The tatami is super comfortable to sit on, looks cute and I’m actually fond of the strange smell it has. However, I’m forever paranoid about spilling even the slightest bit of water, god forbid anything else, and it’s a nightmare wanting to move furniture without ripping it.

I’m still not used to the fact I have no dividing walls, just sliding doors I have to be more delicate with. That’s not to say I’m still not as heavy handed as I used to be, I pulled my shower off of the wall and hulked the door handle off all in the space of 5 minutes. All is well now, but next time I’m blaming it on an earthquake.

It’s lovely though now its cooler, and I can open all my windows and balcony doors and get a lovely breeze through my entire apartment. My balcony has a nice view of my neighbourhood and the river, while I love to nose at the main road when I’m cooking. That’s definitely going to be the scene from a zombie movie one day though; something about the konbini (convenience store) being the only light source on the road and my neighbourhood being so eerily quiet lends itself to the plotline quite nicely.

I live a little further from downtown than others, but not too far from Kumamoto University. Hopefully now their year is starting again, I’ll be able to befriend some cute students at the kobini to make up for it. There’s a little old lady in my neighbourhood, whose name I’m yet to learn, who shouts good morning at me from down the road most days too.

I’ve only met two of my neighbours, as they’re either too shy or home very late from work, but both were lovely. Even though I haven’t seen life in my building since, I don’t actually mind how silent my neighbourhood is at night.

It’s got a long way to go while I clear out all the stuff left from previous ALT’s, since I aim to stay here a little while. I said in the beginning, “I want it to look like a unicorn has thrown up in here”. Who knows, when I’m done it could be like a wacky warehouse of plush toys… they are my weakness.

Enkais- The ins and outs of Japanese work parties

I’ve been to two enkais now, one for my junior high where I spend most of my days, and one for an elementary where I’d spent only one day prior to the enkai. This should have been a precursor to what I was getting myself into in terms of their desire to use me as an excuse for a party, but they were both very different experiences.

There’s some enkai etiquette that first needs to be mastered:

• NEVER let anyone pour their own drinks, and never pour your own.

• When clinking glasses, always clink lower than your superiors

• Never take a sip before the “kanpai” (cheers)

• If you’re a girl, don’t sit cross-legged

With all these in mind, I headed to my first enkai with my junior high school. It was at an Italian restaurant, and I spent the evening with my five fellow JTE’s (Japanese Teachers of English), with a very informal conversation and environment. I could tell that it was really helping them get to know me better, we shared a lot of laughs, and now in school I have much more banter in the staff room. Just this morning, I got a playful slap from a teacher for taking the piss out of the shrine on her desk of a Japanese actor 20 years her junior.

One of the JTE’s is newly qualified and is the closest teacher I have to my age at any of my schools. We’re bonding too, with her sending me cute LINE stickers asking about my weekend, bitching about her boyfriend and only afterwards discussing lessons plans with me for the following week. I guess you could call her my first friend in the workplace.

My second enkai couldn’t have been more different. At this elementary school, barely any of the teachers speak English. It was held at a super fancy Chinese restaurant, providing free-flowing beer pitchers and lots of tapas like dishes. This was much more formal, as I was told to sit next to the vice-principal and await the principal’s arrival. Many speeches given at various interludes and I also had to give a little speech myself.

My night was spent trying to decipher slurred Japanese, mainly from my tantosha (supervisor), who told me in small terms he loved me, couldn’t wait to work with me, and proceeded to try to set me up on a date with one of the other young teachers. My principal is also super enthusiastic for me to practice calligraphy with her during my free periods as we did it last time I was there.

All in all, while enkai’s can get pretty expensive, and I barely had time to eat my food since so many people wanted a conversation with me, I got to experience two very different ones. Hopefully the enkais in the future, will be just as, if not more, entertaining.