Life in Kanazawa: Musings from the Far East

GOOD BYE!!

Hello!
We have left Japan now. It has been a great two years, but we are back in Canada, about to leave for New York! To read about our latest adventures, check out our new blog at www.zachandjane.blogspot.com

There probably won't be any updates for another week or so, until we arrive in Ithaca and have internet set up. If you check back here then we may have the final pictures from Japan up!

Thanks for reading!!

Lunch!

Today we went for a goodbye lunch with Zach's supervisor, her husband and her son. First we went to a gallery to see an exhibiion of her husband's, and then to a very traditional Japanese restaurant. It was so beautiful, because we had a private room to ourselves which opened up to a garden on both sides! Plus, the food was really, really delicious! Zach's supervisor has been so wonderful to us, and so helpful, so it was a really special lunch for us! And, her son is so ridiculously cute!!

Abare- From Above!

One of the teachers at Zach's school is from Ushitsu, the town where the festival was held. She very nicely invited us to join her family at her family home to celebrate- which of course meant great sushi! But, in addition, her family lives right on the corner where all the action happens, so we had a great view from above! It felt very voyeuristic though, as we could watch our friends below us the whole time!

"Bathing" the mikoshi!

Watching the action...

On its way to the shrine and the bonfire!

Watching the hooligans!

Zach and his teacher

Alexis and I!

Abare- Fire & Violence Festival

This past weekend Zach and I headed up north with some friends to the tiny town of Ushitsu for a fire and violence festival. The festival is about 330 years old, and occurs to thank the gods for removing a plague from the town. 40 different floats, or kirikos, are carried throughout the town from one shrine to another. These things are huge! There are also two mikoshi, or smaller floats, which are carried through town, bathed in the river, beaten, and then burned in a huge bonfire before being given as an offering at the shrine. Hence, the violence. We had long heard that it was one of the best festivals in Japan, so we were very excited!! We certainly had a lot of fun!!

Perhaps the greatest taxi driver ever! Not only did he originally agree to take seven of us in the taxi (before the policeman's wife who was manning the police station on her own agreed to drive the others on her birthday the half hour to the festival- love small towns!), but when he was stopped by the police for driving on streets that were closed off, he explained to the police officer he had to get the foreigners to the festival! And the police officer waved him through!!! Almost as funny as in the taxi on the way home when the police officer told our driver we couldn't go through when a very drunk old man walked up to the police officer and told him to let us through, and the police officer said okay! Gotta get the foreigners out!

The BEST meat-on-a-stick of my life!

The mikoshi gets ready to burn!

The kiriko lined up ready for parading! They were so big and heavy! Zach carried one for half an hour, and his shoulder is all scratched up and bruised!

The crowd watching the bonfire.

Sayonara!!!

This weekend was the farewell party for all of the JETs. We started out the night at an izakaya (pub), before heading out for karaoke, and then onto a final bar! It was perhaps the last time we will ever do karaoke, so we had to make sure to make the most of it! We had a lot of fun, although it doesn't really feel like we are leaving in three weeks!

At dinner-- a special picture just for Panda. We know you're watching!

Bart & Alexis are having a good time!

Aaaah, love.

Katie and Heather enjoying the music!

Zach & Roman

Hey! Who invited her?

Everybody Now!

And the obligatory McDonald's run! Now open 24 hours!

Yokohama- View From the Top

This weekend Zach and I went on a farewell tour of Tokyo. Saturday we went to Yokohama, as we had never been there, and Sunday we visited all of our favourite places in Tokyo. We arrived in Yokohama bright and early and headed straight to the Landmark Tour- the tallest building in all of Japan! Also, the fastest elevator in the world takes you to the 69th floor observatory at a rate of 45 km/hour! Needless to say, I waited in Starbucks while Zach ventured to the world above. However, I did go on the moving sky highway afterwards! (Also, a picture of the tower from the ground).

Yokohama- Chinatown

After walking around the harbour we headed to Chinatown. Yokohama's Chinatown is very famous, because there are only two Chinatowns in Japan- in Yokohama and Kobe. This is very surprising to me, but, as a result, Chinatown is a big deal. It was really fun, and it definitely felt very un-Japanese! I especially liked the giant panda!

Happy (early) Birthday To Me!

On Wednesday Alexis had a surprise birthday party for me! I say surprise, because while I knew that we were going over for dinner, I didn't know that it was a birthday party! It was excellent timing, as her 4th of July parcel arrived that day, so it was all-American themed dinner, which I felt was quite appropriate for my upcoming move! It is hard to say what the best part was- either the New York Yankees shirt, or the chocolate-pancake cake, but either was it was really sweet! I had a lot of fun!!

Barbeque

Following tennis we did something I am much more experienced at: eating! We had a huge BBQ with so much meat, veggies and yakisoba! It was great!! Plus, it is always lots of fun to run around and play with the kiddies! It was a perfect summer day, and a great way to say goodbye to these people who have meant so much to us while we have been here!

The Challenge: The Sign of a Good BBQ

More Food!

Roasting marshmallows!

With Hiroki and Tomoharu

The Whole Gang

Tennis

My Moms and Kiddies took Zach and I to play tennis this weekend. This is kind of amazing for two reasons: 1) I have never played tennis before EVER. I have NEVER held a racket. I have NEVER swung at a tennis ball. The closest I have ever come is using tennis balls in socks to practice for rhythmic. NEVER. 2) I have never played tennis before. How does one become 24 without ever playing tennis? So, off we went to Uchinada for my first tennis experience! Unfortunately my opponents are all exceptional players who play for several hours everyday, including the 10-year old kiddies. The good news is that Zach and I beat (I think- it was very, very close) the two 10-year olds- one with a broken shoulder! Still, it was a lot of fun! I think I may try tennis again within the next 24 years.