Return to Minamiaizu! - Day Nine (7/20/16)
Today is the day I return to Minamiaizu for the first time since 2006! Needless to say, I was pretty excited.
For those that don't know, Minamiaizu is north of Tokyo in Fukushima Prefecture. I used to have to explain Fukushima Prefecture to people, but the world has sadly become much more aware of Fukushima since the tsunami in 2011. Minamiaizu is about 60 miles west of the areas hit by the tsunami/nuclear accident, and is a beautiful rural area of mountains, hot springs, and then occasional person. It's a big area, and takes about 2 hours to drive from one end to the other. I lived in Nango-mura (village of 3,000 people) and taught there and in nearby Ina-mura. Both villages were consolidated into Minamiaizu-machi just before I left in 2006, unfortunately taking some of the identity of two beautiful villages and amalgamating them into the name of the larger district. This kind of thing is common in Japan.
I bought my ticket from Minami-Senju station and traveled the nearly 4 hours north. It's a fun ride, as the train progressively sheds cars the further we go. So few people go all the way to Minamiaizu that the 6 car train became a 2 car one by the end. In fact, I was one of only 3 people to make the journey all the way to Minamiaizu! The scenery got more and more rugged as we chugged along, crossing beautiful rivers and going through endless rice fields and mountain tunnels. I got more and more excited as we finally pulled into Aizu-Tajima - the final stop!
I'll get into how I felt being back in the next entry. For now, here is the play by play of what I did after I arrived. First, I had to walk down the road for 5 minutes and pick up the car I had rented. I passed near the Green Hotel, which is next to the station and where I spent my very first night in Minamiaizu. At Aizu Rent-a-Car I spoke at length with a very nice man with the name Igarashi (one of the most common last names in Minamiaizu - my students were 85% Igarashis and Babas) to rent the car. We both used some Google Translate on our phones and were able to understand each other with my non-car oriented Japanese. I imagine that being understood is much easier for people in the JET Programme these days. If I was having a conversation with someone years ago and we didn't understand each other, we had to make it work. It helped me really commit myself to learning Japanese because it was so necessary. Not saying that today's ALTs in the JET Programme aren't learning, but Google Translate is a powerful and usual tool.
After renting the car I was back behind the wheel, driving on the left hand side of the road again! The roads in Minamiaizu are very narrow, but I took to driving on the left again without difficultly. You just need to take it slow and think about everything you are doing at first. I was a hungry man, so my first stop was a favorite old restaurant and karaoke joint - Hedakaya.
Hedakaya has remodeled since 2006 and is pretty different now. The outside of the restaurant has lots of small windows that I don't think were there before. The inside is totally different - it used to be pretty dark with tables to your left (I believe) and karaoke hallway to your right. Now there might be large private ballrooms to the left, and the tables are straight ahead and to the right, with a huge window that opens up to the mountains. It's very nice, and it looks like the karaoke boxes are just off of the eating area. I had a chicken katsu teshoku, and it was just like old times. I think I recognized the woman who rung me up, too! Or maybe that's just my imagination as my mind is in a sea of reminiscence.
I went to a few other places that I used to visit a lot (Komari, Lion Dor, Tsutaya, the ¥100 Shop) to kill time before I could check in at my ryokan (Japanese-style hotel).
Checking in was a bit of an adventure, as I had to drive to the far eastern edge of Minamiaizu to Shimogo (Nango is much closer to the far western edge) and then check in using only Japanese. We didn't have Google Translate this time, and since my language skills have deteriorated to little more than basic conversation/talking about myself/asking about other people, it was difficult following along. I eventually understood everything and was now ready to explore - ready to drive back to Nango and Ina and see what was new! Or, more properly, what wasn't new and how it unleashed a tidal wave of emotion on me. More on that in the next entry!
For those that don't know, Minamiaizu is north of Tokyo in Fukushima Prefecture. I used to have to explain Fukushima Prefecture to people, but the world has sadly become much more aware of Fukushima since the tsunami in 2011. Minamiaizu is about 60 miles west of the areas hit by the tsunami/nuclear accident, and is a beautiful rural area of mountains, hot springs, and then occasional person. It's a big area, and takes about 2 hours to drive from one end to the other. I lived in Nango-mura (village of 3,000 people) and taught there and in nearby Ina-mura. Both villages were consolidated into Minamiaizu-machi just before I left in 2006, unfortunately taking some of the identity of two beautiful villages and amalgamating them into the name of the larger district. This kind of thing is common in Japan.
I bought my ticket from Minami-Senju station and traveled the nearly 4 hours north. It's a fun ride, as the train progressively sheds cars the further we go. So few people go all the way to Minamiaizu that the 6 car train became a 2 car one by the end. In fact, I was one of only 3 people to make the journey all the way to Minamiaizu! The scenery got more and more rugged as we chugged along, crossing beautiful rivers and going through endless rice fields and mountain tunnels. I got more and more excited as we finally pulled into Aizu-Tajima - the final stop!
I'll get into how I felt being back in the next entry. For now, here is the play by play of what I did after I arrived. First, I had to walk down the road for 5 minutes and pick up the car I had rented. I passed near the Green Hotel, which is next to the station and where I spent my very first night in Minamiaizu. At Aizu Rent-a-Car I spoke at length with a very nice man with the name Igarashi (one of the most common last names in Minamiaizu - my students were 85% Igarashis and Babas) to rent the car. We both used some Google Translate on our phones and were able to understand each other with my non-car oriented Japanese. I imagine that being understood is much easier for people in the JET Programme these days. If I was having a conversation with someone years ago and we didn't understand each other, we had to make it work. It helped me really commit myself to learning Japanese because it was so necessary. Not saying that today's ALTs in the JET Programme aren't learning, but Google Translate is a powerful and usual tool.
After renting the car I was back behind the wheel, driving on the left hand side of the road again! The roads in Minamiaizu are very narrow, but I took to driving on the left again without difficultly. You just need to take it slow and think about everything you are doing at first. I was a hungry man, so my first stop was a favorite old restaurant and karaoke joint - Hedakaya.
Hedakaya has remodeled since 2006 and is pretty different now. The outside of the restaurant has lots of small windows that I don't think were there before. The inside is totally different - it used to be pretty dark with tables to your left (I believe) and karaoke hallway to your right. Now there might be large private ballrooms to the left, and the tables are straight ahead and to the right, with a huge window that opens up to the mountains. It's very nice, and it looks like the karaoke boxes are just off of the eating area. I had a chicken katsu teshoku, and it was just like old times. I think I recognized the woman who rung me up, too! Or maybe that's just my imagination as my mind is in a sea of reminiscence.
I went to a few other places that I used to visit a lot (Komari, Lion Dor, Tsutaya, the ¥100 Shop) to kill time before I could check in at my ryokan (Japanese-style hotel).
Checking in was a bit of an adventure, as I had to drive to the far eastern edge of Minamiaizu to Shimogo (Nango is much closer to the far western edge) and then check in using only Japanese. We didn't have Google Translate this time, and since my language skills have deteriorated to little more than basic conversation/talking about myself/asking about other people, it was difficult following along. I eventually understood everything and was now ready to explore - ready to drive back to Nango and Ina and see what was new! Or, more properly, what wasn't new and how it unleashed a tidal wave of emotion on me. More on that in the next entry!