Mt. Aso...sort of
Ack, I meant to have this posted a few days ago but RL intervened once again...ah well, so goes life. Well, Sunday was my Mt. Aso trip (I misheard it as "Asa" at first, so I'm correcting that now), I went with the two Canadian ALTs who are married with a daughter. Our Japanese guide was a JTE named Kazuko, she is so cool, we followed her car through the windy mountains of Japan to all the secret places you can't get to by train or bus. We stopped by tons of waterfalls and little shrines on the way to Mt. Aso, (it's a 2 1/2 hour drive from Saga-shi by backroads). One of the first interesting things we passed was a real thatch-roof house by a rice field. These are actually aren't that uncommon a sight as you drive around Kyushuu: 1, 2, 3, 4.
After that was a long (and sometimes scary) drive up steep mountain roads to a cool little shrine/onsen on top of one of the many mountains. Unfortunately I have no idea what this place is called, but it was great for photos. Here's a view of the river valley, and another picture of me next to the valley. The shrine has an attached store (with lots of exotic Japanese pickles and other fun items) and restaurant. They seem to be running quite a profitable tourist operation here, the place even comes complete with a parking lot. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing or a good thing :P The shrine area was pretty cool, I liked these three water buckets. Here's a shot of our cheerful guide Kazuko and John. They also had an area for prayer sticks, all decorated with a strange little heads (it looked like a guy with a demon mask, but that doesn't sound right for a shrine. I'm not sure what he was supposed to be). They had hundreds of them, including some hanging from trees. The shrine is centered around a lovely little waterfall with these great model geta on the shoreline. Those kids were so cute!!
After that we moved on to another forest some distance away, with huge waterfalls. Every time I walk through one of the these places in Japan I keep expecting to see dinosaurs running around in the foliage, they feel that ancient and primeval. Here are some assorted shots of the forest and trail: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I found this little shrine interesting...it was full of beer cans, but I think the alcohol was meant as an offering, not as garbage. At the beginning of the trail was this big sign advertising a future suspension bridge, which they think will be finished within three years...umm except that they haven't even started yet. The bridge would be nice, but honestly it would spoil the beauty of the valley. IHMO.
Our third destination was again another waterfall...by this point I was getting a little tired of them, and seeing as it was pouring rain when we arrived I almost stayed in the car. That would have been boring though, so I went, but because of the rain I left my camera behind. I'm kicking myself now of course, because this series of waterfalls was indescribably beautiful. We walked all over the place, and after the rain stopped the river was all misty and mysterious. Occasionally the sun would break through and send these sunrays down through the trees...oh the photos I could have taken!! I suppose it was for the best though, because near the end we were walking on some mossy wet rocks and I slipped and smacked my elbow on the rock...losing some skin in the process -_-;; My little mishap will take some time to heal (I have a huge bruise on my arm too :P) but better my elbow than my head, right? The arm I skinned is the one I would have been holding my camera in, so if I'd had it it would have been ruined. Maybe it's karma? I begged Kazuko to let me come next time she planned to go (she drives to this place about once a month) and we're supposed to go at the end of this month. I can't wait!
After that we were finally in the region of Mt. Aso. Aso is actually five volcanic peaks (only one of which is really active) inside the world's largest caldera (it's at least 26 miles across...actually I think it's a lot more than that, I don't have an exact number). One of the side mountains on the edge of the caldera is slightly active, you could see the smoke coming off it and smell the sulfur, even from several miles away: 1, 2. We headed up and over the edge of the caldera (which isn't clearly defined, it's very old and has worn down into hills over the millenia) and up along the inside. As you're driving, you turn a curve and the space suddenly opens up, giving you a spectacular view of the entire caldera, which is a giant bowl filled with hills, several small towns and a city, Aso Town. My photos don't even come close to conveying the scale of this place...I've never seen anything like it, and probably won't again. It almost didn't look real; in fact the whole place reminded my of the Lord of the Rings. They could easily have filmed it here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
We then drove down inside the caldera, which is a pretty touristy area. There are several small ranches with horses and signs saying "Welcome to Montana" and other American West-themed things. They also herd cows here. The landscape didn't exactly remind me of the stereotypical Old West, but it was pretty all the same: 1, 2, 3.
So after all this sight-seeing, we finally made our way to the base of Mt. Aso...only to learn that the volcano closed at 5pm (which was what time it was when we finally arrived) so we would have to come back another day. Can you believe it?? One of the ALTs I was riding with is a geologist by trade, so he was especially disappointed by this. We were just following Kazuko, and we were trusting her to get us to our goal with time to actually see it...but we did see a lot of cool stuff along the way, so it's okay I guess. Next time I'm probably going to be on my own; the only way for me to get there without a car is to go by train and bus, and the route is quite complicated. I'm tentatively planning to make it a weekend trip, where I see Mt. Aso the first day then stay overnight at one of the local onsens. We'll see how it works out, especially where costs are concerned. I caught one more nice snapshot of the clouds as we drove home in partial defeat. Sad, ne?
Yesterday was my first day at Ogi high school. I had to introduce myself to the staff in Japanese, and then a little later I was introduced to the ten JTEs who work there (as least this intro was in English, whew!) There won't be any classes until next week, which is my first official day there as an ALT, so I just sat around at my desk the rest of the day. Right now the whole school is preparing for their Cultural/Sports festival this weekend (which I'm attending, I'm sure that will require a whole post of its own :), so after lunch one of the English teachers came up to me and asked what my major was. I told him "art" and he was greatly relieved. He rushed me to the art building (yes, they have a whole building just for art and calligraphy. What a great school!) where they had two giant pieces of red styrofoam and a small photocopy of their school logo (a sakura blossom with the kanji for "high school" in the middle). They needed me to draw the logo as large as possible, which I was happy to do. I then sat around with them for a couple hours and chatted with the other teachers, half in Japanese and half in English (the JTEs helped translate quite a bit) while they dipped hundreds of toothpicks in white and yellow paint to put on the lines I'd drawn. I asked them why they didn't just paint the lines with a brush, since that would be a lot faster and easier, to which they replied "we want to make it different!". Fair enough, but in the school I taught at we would have gotten the students to do all that work *winks at former students reading this journal*. All in all it was a fun day, I'm looking forward to this weekend.
Is it just me, or do I sound like a tour guide when I write these?
Random note for anime fans reading this: you might be wondering why I haven't mentioned anime more, since I'm in the country of origin. It turns out that, at least in Saga-shi, there is no store devoted to anime or comics like we have in the US. To find the anime junk we all like blow our money on, you really have to hunt around. I've found a lot of the coolest stuff in department stores where they have school supplies with Inuyasha, Conan and One Piece on them. Anime DVDs in Japan are insanely expensive (at least 1/3 more expensive than at home, sometimes twice as much if you're buying a Studio Ghibli movie or other theatrical movie) so I haven't bought any. No one in America is allowed to complain about the cost of anime ever again; we're getting a good deal with our bilingual DVDs, people. Seriously. Other places to find anime stuff is in toy stores and vending machines (the source of infamous UFO dolls), or at local convienience stores like 711 (yes, they have those here). Bookstores always have a big manga section (yay!) and you can find all the cool art books here (at much more reasonable prices than at home). I know Tokyo has actual anime and animation cel shops, and I intend to visit those when I eventually visit that city. Anime on TV is fully integrated into the programming schedule, so they are on at all times and on all channels. There is no one "anime" channel, surprisingly enough, although on cable there is a "Kids Station" which has a lot of anime like Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2 and Slayers along with American cartoons. To find some series I've had to ask Japanese people the time and channel, because I don't have a channel guide, and even if I did it would be in Japanese :P That's my brief anime report, if people reading this have specific questions, feel free to post a comment! Ja ne!
After that was a long (and sometimes scary) drive up steep mountain roads to a cool little shrine/onsen on top of one of the many mountains. Unfortunately I have no idea what this place is called, but it was great for photos. Here's a view of the river valley, and another picture of me next to the valley. The shrine has an attached store (with lots of exotic Japanese pickles and other fun items) and restaurant. They seem to be running quite a profitable tourist operation here, the place even comes complete with a parking lot. I'm not sure if this is a bad thing or a good thing :P The shrine area was pretty cool, I liked these three water buckets. Here's a shot of our cheerful guide Kazuko and John. They also had an area for prayer sticks, all decorated with a strange little heads (it looked like a guy with a demon mask, but that doesn't sound right for a shrine. I'm not sure what he was supposed to be). They had hundreds of them, including some hanging from trees. The shrine is centered around a lovely little waterfall with these great model geta on the shoreline. Those kids were so cute!!
After that we moved on to another forest some distance away, with huge waterfalls. Every time I walk through one of the these places in Japan I keep expecting to see dinosaurs running around in the foliage, they feel that ancient and primeval. Here are some assorted shots of the forest and trail: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. I found this little shrine interesting...it was full of beer cans, but I think the alcohol was meant as an offering, not as garbage. At the beginning of the trail was this big sign advertising a future suspension bridge, which they think will be finished within three years...umm except that they haven't even started yet. The bridge would be nice, but honestly it would spoil the beauty of the valley. IHMO.
Our third destination was again another waterfall...by this point I was getting a little tired of them, and seeing as it was pouring rain when we arrived I almost stayed in the car. That would have been boring though, so I went, but because of the rain I left my camera behind. I'm kicking myself now of course, because this series of waterfalls was indescribably beautiful. We walked all over the place, and after the rain stopped the river was all misty and mysterious. Occasionally the sun would break through and send these sunrays down through the trees...oh the photos I could have taken!! I suppose it was for the best though, because near the end we were walking on some mossy wet rocks and I slipped and smacked my elbow on the rock...losing some skin in the process -_-;; My little mishap will take some time to heal (I have a huge bruise on my arm too :P) but better my elbow than my head, right? The arm I skinned is the one I would have been holding my camera in, so if I'd had it it would have been ruined. Maybe it's karma? I begged Kazuko to let me come next time she planned to go (she drives to this place about once a month) and we're supposed to go at the end of this month. I can't wait!
After that we were finally in the region of Mt. Aso. Aso is actually five volcanic peaks (only one of which is really active) inside the world's largest caldera (it's at least 26 miles across...actually I think it's a lot more than that, I don't have an exact number). One of the side mountains on the edge of the caldera is slightly active, you could see the smoke coming off it and smell the sulfur, even from several miles away: 1, 2. We headed up and over the edge of the caldera (which isn't clearly defined, it's very old and has worn down into hills over the millenia) and up along the inside. As you're driving, you turn a curve and the space suddenly opens up, giving you a spectacular view of the entire caldera, which is a giant bowl filled with hills, several small towns and a city, Aso Town. My photos don't even come close to conveying the scale of this place...I've never seen anything like it, and probably won't again. It almost didn't look real; in fact the whole place reminded my of the Lord of the Rings. They could easily have filmed it here: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.
We then drove down inside the caldera, which is a pretty touristy area. There are several small ranches with horses and signs saying "Welcome to Montana" and other American West-themed things. They also herd cows here. The landscape didn't exactly remind me of the stereotypical Old West, but it was pretty all the same: 1, 2, 3.
So after all this sight-seeing, we finally made our way to the base of Mt. Aso...only to learn that the volcano closed at 5pm (which was what time it was when we finally arrived) so we would have to come back another day. Can you believe it?? One of the ALTs I was riding with is a geologist by trade, so he was especially disappointed by this. We were just following Kazuko, and we were trusting her to get us to our goal with time to actually see it...but we did see a lot of cool stuff along the way, so it's okay I guess. Next time I'm probably going to be on my own; the only way for me to get there without a car is to go by train and bus, and the route is quite complicated. I'm tentatively planning to make it a weekend trip, where I see Mt. Aso the first day then stay overnight at one of the local onsens. We'll see how it works out, especially where costs are concerned. I caught one more nice snapshot of the clouds as we drove home in partial defeat. Sad, ne?
Yesterday was my first day at Ogi high school. I had to introduce myself to the staff in Japanese, and then a little later I was introduced to the ten JTEs who work there (as least this intro was in English, whew!) There won't be any classes until next week, which is my first official day there as an ALT, so I just sat around at my desk the rest of the day. Right now the whole school is preparing for their Cultural/Sports festival this weekend (which I'm attending, I'm sure that will require a whole post of its own :), so after lunch one of the English teachers came up to me and asked what my major was. I told him "art" and he was greatly relieved. He rushed me to the art building (yes, they have a whole building just for art and calligraphy. What a great school!) where they had two giant pieces of red styrofoam and a small photocopy of their school logo (a sakura blossom with the kanji for "high school" in the middle). They needed me to draw the logo as large as possible, which I was happy to do. I then sat around with them for a couple hours and chatted with the other teachers, half in Japanese and half in English (the JTEs helped translate quite a bit) while they dipped hundreds of toothpicks in white and yellow paint to put on the lines I'd drawn. I asked them why they didn't just paint the lines with a brush, since that would be a lot faster and easier, to which they replied "we want to make it different!". Fair enough, but in the school I taught at we would have gotten the students to do all that work *winks at former students reading this journal*. All in all it was a fun day, I'm looking forward to this weekend.
Is it just me, or do I sound like a tour guide when I write these?
Random note for anime fans reading this: you might be wondering why I haven't mentioned anime more, since I'm in the country of origin. It turns out that, at least in Saga-shi, there is no store devoted to anime or comics like we have in the US. To find the anime junk we all like blow our money on, you really have to hunt around. I've found a lot of the coolest stuff in department stores where they have school supplies with Inuyasha, Conan and One Piece on them. Anime DVDs in Japan are insanely expensive (at least 1/3 more expensive than at home, sometimes twice as much if you're buying a Studio Ghibli movie or other theatrical movie) so I haven't bought any. No one in America is allowed to complain about the cost of anime ever again; we're getting a good deal with our bilingual DVDs, people. Seriously. Other places to find anime stuff is in toy stores and vending machines (the source of infamous UFO dolls), or at local convienience stores like 711 (yes, they have those here). Bookstores always have a big manga section (yay!) and you can find all the cool art books here (at much more reasonable prices than at home). I know Tokyo has actual anime and animation cel shops, and I intend to visit those when I eventually visit that city. Anime on TV is fully integrated into the programming schedule, so they are on at all times and on all channels. There is no one "anime" channel, surprisingly enough, although on cable there is a "Kids Station" which has a lot of anime like Sailor Moon, Ranma 1/2 and Slayers along with American cartoons. To find some series I've had to ask Japanese people the time and channel, because I don't have a channel guide, and even if I did it would be in Japanese :P That's my brief anime report, if people reading this have specific questions, feel free to post a comment! Ja ne!