The Chrysanthemum Journal, Week 51
Hey, I've seen you here before, haven't I? I thought I told you that story time was over... H..hey, don't look at me like that, pal. When it's over, it's over, right?
W..well...oh, come on, don't cry.
Fine, I guess I can tell you another few stories, but this is the last time, okay?
Let's see, I believe we were just entering Chad's 51st week. Ah, yes, here we are. Let's begin, shall we?
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So the week at school was wildly regular. Especially considering that there was no manager. For the most part, it was just quiet. Takeshi and I often teach with mirroring schedules, so that while he is teaching, I'm doing busy work, and when he's doing busy work, I'm teaching. Basically this means that we already get very little face-to-face time unless he gets a cancelled lesson or I do, and so this added up to a generally boring few days. That's all there is to say about that.
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One of the biggest things to do in summer in Japan is to take as much explosive ordinance as you can legally purchase and set up an ignition such that the ordinance flies in the sky and detonates, raining down fire and debris in a scorching display of light. That's right, I'm talking about fireworks. However, unlike America, where fireworks are pretty much reserved for July 4th, or England, where I think the only time is Bonfire Night, and other countries with their pathetic "fireworks are sometimes entertainment," the Japanese often just load up the explosives-mobile and hit the beach to fire some off.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone to do it with, and fireworks are no fun when you're all alone, so I was looking into various displays. Japan is not at all lacking in fireworks festivals. However, most of them occur on Saturdays or scheduled days each year which just so happen to fall on non-Monday weekdays this year. Just my luck, yeah? But hey, them's the breaks. So I was psyched when my cell phone told me about some phireworks going down in Seta on Sunday, and I decided to get my keister out there. Of course, watching fireworks alone is about the same as launching them alone, so I asked my manager to go with me. No dice, as she had a sick niece to go see. So, I retreat home on Saturday and e-mail another teacher near Seta to see if she wants to go. No response by bedtime = despair!
The next day, that despair dissipated when I received a message asking about the details. And then mail from another teacher who was interested in coming along after he'd heard about it. So, after finishing up some shopping and various errands, I zipped off to Seta, and met up with the 4 other members of the party. Not bad for last-minute plans. Not bad at all. Hopped on a pretty tightly packed train to get us closer to the site, and ended up chatting with all of the nearby Japanese people. When we arrived at the station, it was just as tight a crowd to give the stationmaster a ticket and go on our way to the bridge. It certainly wasn't missing any of the things one can normally associate with Japanese festivals, such as food stands, lanterns, and even organized dancing in which most of the participants were locals and crazy gaijin who wanted to give it a try. Cool beans. The kids back home still say cool beans, don't they?
So we hopped down the nature trail and found our way to the bridge, where I'd seen some space on the nice soft concrete before (better than being near the bushes people seemed to have decided were actually a hidden lavatory). Settled down with kara-age, fries, and, of course, beer. After chatting for a little bit, the show was underway, with both fireworks and some kind of display on the river where there was a guy singing in a very traditional style. I can only assume that this is to bring in good luck for the harvest ahead...or something, I have no idea. One nice thing about this display was that it was scheduled to run for an hour. At first, I thought this meant we'd be seeing a burst every now and then while we waited for the main event, but instead we were treated to little displays about every 10-15 minutes. It was nice because, after they finished, there would always be people who got up and left. I assume that the shows are there to give patrons the feeling that they saw something nice and can leave it at that.
But not us. True fireworks fans cannot be satiated by such paltry displays of explosiveness. And so we waited, and waited, and saw lots of awesome displays, including hearts, stars, and a horseshoe-like object which was said to look like a skull but was most definitely the Millenium Falcon. And finally, we came to the finale. Whereas all the mini-displays had lasted about 1 minute or so, this one went all of 5 minutes! Crazy! The only thing I regret is not taking more pictures. I did what I could, but the fireworks setting on my camera isn't the best without a tripod, and the regular setting simply doesn't pull it off well enough. It's alright, though, I made sure to get you all some videos. You didn't think I'd leave you in the dark, did you? UNFORTUNATELY, I took the vids at a 90-degree angle. And for some reason, even though I rotated them on my camera and saved them like that, when I put them on my comp, they came out sideways again. So I downloaded a program to rotate .MOV files, and changed them again. Now they are vertical on my camera and my computer, but are, for some reason, horizontal on DailyMotion. I guess you'll just have to alter your screens somehow. Or imagine it as a very one-sided naval battle.
After being bedazzled by bunches of bright blasts, we pointed ourselves once more to the local train station and trudged onward, befriending and bechatting with some small children along the way, who were simply amazed to be chatting with both an Australian and an American. We took our train to the next train station (had to transfer), and decided that, since the last train didn't leave for a while, we should go eat, drink, and be merry. Off we went to a local izakaya called "Hana no Mai" (the dance of flowers). We had a lot of fun with a certain scratch-and-win card game that they had. Order a beer, get a card. Scratch 3 circles out of 6. Get "gold," "silver," and "bronze," and you win a free beer. Miss, but collect 5 cards, get a free beer. We kept trying to beat the system, but it never did work, even when we got the staff involved in our guessing games. As we had 5 people and 6 circles, we needed the staff to answer questions sometimes. Thankfully the Japanese in the group were there to translate for us, and the staff were very cooperative. Of course, beer wasn't the only thing we had. We were starving, too, so we ordered plenty of food, including a new taste treat, basashi. Go ahead. Read the link. I'll wait.
That's right, raw horse meat. And let me tell you, it was pretty good! Although...I have to wonder about raw horse meat-flavored ice cream...
Anyway, that was all for the evening. I had to get up relatively early for a certain task the next morning.
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And what exactly was that oh so important task? Glad you asked. Actually, I had to go about getting my visa renewed. It's that time, after all, and my visa was about to die. Interesting thing about applying for visa extensions in Japan is that there are really only two types..for working visas, anyway. Basically, you can choose to get a 1 year extension or a 3 year extension. However, the one you choose really doesn't seem to matter, as if they decide to give you a 3-year extension, they'll give it to you, and if you apply for 3 years, but they feel 1 year is fine, you get that instead.
Anyway, going through the renewal process is actually a heck of a lot easier than I had originally thought it would be. Basically, it involved me going to the main office with some papers like my contract and tax slip, filling in some forms, and waiting around awhile. Technically, this was not the first time I'd been to the office for this. I simply forgot to report it the last time around. Last time I went, I was told that I couldn't complete the process because I didn't have one of the required documents, that being something basically proving that I work for GEOS. So I had to cancel that trip. When I reported this to my supervisor, he told me that only the strictist immigration offices needed that. Guess whaaaaa~t?
So I got my documents, mailed them in to the office, and waited until I got my card saying "COME ON DOWN!" this week. Zipped into the office at something like 3 PM, much later than the early morning I'd been hoping for, but that couldn't be helped because I stayed up far too late the night before. And lookie there, got my new passport stamp in a right jiffy. Funny thing was that there had been a guy before me in the line who'd had to step out for a moment to take a phone call. His thing was taken care of relatively fast as well, so we ended up riding the elevator together and I could hear him talking to someone on his cell phone. I say it's funny because the conversation went on for awhile about how he couldn't do this or that, and then he ended that segment of the conversation with "Well, I don't know what to do with them. My Japanese isn't that good and the guy was too bored to try and speak English. I'm a foreigner, so he doesn't want to talk to me." The mind boggled for a moment. This was the *immigration office* he's talking about. They're only reason for being, really, is *specifically* to talk to foreigners. If that's not your thing, you don't take the job!
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I believe that's all there is to tell for this week. Look forward to our next meeting! And for now, here's fireworks:
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/pigonjinn/SetaFireworksFestival
Video (keep in mind these videos are rotated 90-degrees left, as that's how I took them with my camera. For some reason, I can change that on my camera, and on my computer, but not on DailyMotion. Sooorrryyyy:
1 - http://www.dailymotion.com/kyoushibanzai/video/x6hi4k_small-bursts-pt-1_travel
2 - http://www.dailymotion.com/kyoushibanzai/video/x6hi56_small-bursts-pt-2_travel
Finale - http://www.dailymotion.com/kyoushibanzai/video/x6hi8p_finale_travel
W..well...oh, come on, don't cry.
Fine, I guess I can tell you another few stories, but this is the last time, okay?
Let's see, I believe we were just entering Chad's 51st week. Ah, yes, here we are. Let's begin, shall we?
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
So the week at school was wildly regular. Especially considering that there was no manager. For the most part, it was just quiet. Takeshi and I often teach with mirroring schedules, so that while he is teaching, I'm doing busy work, and when he's doing busy work, I'm teaching. Basically this means that we already get very little face-to-face time unless he gets a cancelled lesson or I do, and so this added up to a generally boring few days. That's all there is to say about that.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
One of the biggest things to do in summer in Japan is to take as much explosive ordinance as you can legally purchase and set up an ignition such that the ordinance flies in the sky and detonates, raining down fire and debris in a scorching display of light. That's right, I'm talking about fireworks. However, unlike America, where fireworks are pretty much reserved for July 4th, or England, where I think the only time is Bonfire Night, and other countries with their pathetic "fireworks are sometimes entertainment," the Japanese often just load up the explosives-mobile and hit the beach to fire some off.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find anyone to do it with, and fireworks are no fun when you're all alone, so I was looking into various displays. Japan is not at all lacking in fireworks festivals. However, most of them occur on Saturdays or scheduled days each year which just so happen to fall on non-Monday weekdays this year. Just my luck, yeah? But hey, them's the breaks. So I was psyched when my cell phone told me about some phireworks going down in Seta on Sunday, and I decided to get my keister out there. Of course, watching fireworks alone is about the same as launching them alone, so I asked my manager to go with me. No dice, as she had a sick niece to go see. So, I retreat home on Saturday and e-mail another teacher near Seta to see if she wants to go. No response by bedtime = despair!
The next day, that despair dissipated when I received a message asking about the details. And then mail from another teacher who was interested in coming along after he'd heard about it. So, after finishing up some shopping and various errands, I zipped off to Seta, and met up with the 4 other members of the party. Not bad for last-minute plans. Not bad at all. Hopped on a pretty tightly packed train to get us closer to the site, and ended up chatting with all of the nearby Japanese people. When we arrived at the station, it was just as tight a crowd to give the stationmaster a ticket and go on our way to the bridge. It certainly wasn't missing any of the things one can normally associate with Japanese festivals, such as food stands, lanterns, and even organized dancing in which most of the participants were locals and crazy gaijin who wanted to give it a try. Cool beans. The kids back home still say cool beans, don't they?
So we hopped down the nature trail and found our way to the bridge, where I'd seen some space on the nice soft concrete before (better than being near the bushes people seemed to have decided were actually a hidden lavatory). Settled down with kara-age, fries, and, of course, beer. After chatting for a little bit, the show was underway, with both fireworks and some kind of display on the river where there was a guy singing in a very traditional style. I can only assume that this is to bring in good luck for the harvest ahead...or something, I have no idea. One nice thing about this display was that it was scheduled to run for an hour. At first, I thought this meant we'd be seeing a burst every now and then while we waited for the main event, but instead we were treated to little displays about every 10-15 minutes. It was nice because, after they finished, there would always be people who got up and left. I assume that the shows are there to give patrons the feeling that they saw something nice and can leave it at that.
But not us. True fireworks fans cannot be satiated by such paltry displays of explosiveness. And so we waited, and waited, and saw lots of awesome displays, including hearts, stars, and a horseshoe-like object which was said to look like a skull but was most definitely the Millenium Falcon. And finally, we came to the finale. Whereas all the mini-displays had lasted about 1 minute or so, this one went all of 5 minutes! Crazy! The only thing I regret is not taking more pictures. I did what I could, but the fireworks setting on my camera isn't the best without a tripod, and the regular setting simply doesn't pull it off well enough. It's alright, though, I made sure to get you all some videos. You didn't think I'd leave you in the dark, did you? UNFORTUNATELY, I took the vids at a 90-degree angle. And for some reason, even though I rotated them on my camera and saved them like that, when I put them on my comp, they came out sideways again. So I downloaded a program to rotate .MOV files, and changed them again. Now they are vertical on my camera and my computer, but are, for some reason, horizontal on DailyMotion. I guess you'll just have to alter your screens somehow. Or imagine it as a very one-sided naval battle.
After being bedazzled by bunches of bright blasts, we pointed ourselves once more to the local train station and trudged onward, befriending and bechatting with some small children along the way, who were simply amazed to be chatting with both an Australian and an American. We took our train to the next train station (had to transfer), and decided that, since the last train didn't leave for a while, we should go eat, drink, and be merry. Off we went to a local izakaya called "Hana no Mai" (the dance of flowers). We had a lot of fun with a certain scratch-and-win card game that they had. Order a beer, get a card. Scratch 3 circles out of 6. Get "gold," "silver," and "bronze," and you win a free beer. Miss, but collect 5 cards, get a free beer. We kept trying to beat the system, but it never did work, even when we got the staff involved in our guessing games. As we had 5 people and 6 circles, we needed the staff to answer questions sometimes. Thankfully the Japanese in the group were there to translate for us, and the staff were very cooperative. Of course, beer wasn't the only thing we had. We were starving, too, so we ordered plenty of food, including a new taste treat, basashi. Go ahead. Read the link. I'll wait.
That's right, raw horse meat. And let me tell you, it was pretty good! Although...I have to wonder about raw horse meat-flavored ice cream...
Anyway, that was all for the evening. I had to get up relatively early for a certain task the next morning.
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
And what exactly was that oh so important task? Glad you asked. Actually, I had to go about getting my visa renewed. It's that time, after all, and my visa was about to die. Interesting thing about applying for visa extensions in Japan is that there are really only two types..for working visas, anyway. Basically, you can choose to get a 1 year extension or a 3 year extension. However, the one you choose really doesn't seem to matter, as if they decide to give you a 3-year extension, they'll give it to you, and if you apply for 3 years, but they feel 1 year is fine, you get that instead.
Anyway, going through the renewal process is actually a heck of a lot easier than I had originally thought it would be. Basically, it involved me going to the main office with some papers like my contract and tax slip, filling in some forms, and waiting around awhile. Technically, this was not the first time I'd been to the office for this. I simply forgot to report it the last time around. Last time I went, I was told that I couldn't complete the process because I didn't have one of the required documents, that being something basically proving that I work for GEOS. So I had to cancel that trip. When I reported this to my supervisor, he told me that only the strictist immigration offices needed that. Guess whaaaaa~t?
So I got my documents, mailed them in to the office, and waited until I got my card saying "COME ON DOWN!" this week. Zipped into the office at something like 3 PM, much later than the early morning I'd been hoping for, but that couldn't be helped because I stayed up far too late the night before. And lookie there, got my new passport stamp in a right jiffy. Funny thing was that there had been a guy before me in the line who'd had to step out for a moment to take a phone call. His thing was taken care of relatively fast as well, so we ended up riding the elevator together and I could hear him talking to someone on his cell phone. I say it's funny because the conversation went on for awhile about how he couldn't do this or that, and then he ended that segment of the conversation with "Well, I don't know what to do with them. My Japanese isn't that good and the guy was too bored to try and speak English. I'm a foreigner, so he doesn't want to talk to me." The mind boggled for a moment. This was the *immigration office* he's talking about. They're only reason for being, really, is *specifically* to talk to foreigners. If that's not your thing, you don't take the job!
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
I believe that's all there is to tell for this week. Look forward to our next meeting! And for now, here's fireworks:
Photos: http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/pigonjinn/SetaFireworksFestival
Video (keep in mind these videos are rotated 90-degrees left, as that's how I took them with my camera. For some reason, I can change that on my camera, and on my computer, but not on DailyMotion. Sooorrryyyy:
1 - http://www.dailymotion.com/kyoushibanzai/video/x6hi4k_small-bursts-pt-1_travel
2 - http://www.dailymotion.com/kyoushibanzai/video/x6hi56_small-bursts-pt-2_travel
Finale - http://www.dailymotion.com/kyoushibanzai/video/x6hi8p_finale_travel