Strange wonnderful bitsnbobs

When you book a flight in Japan you can reserve it online then you have a few days to pay your bill in cash at your local shop. Imagine going to spar to pay for ryanair! It’s ideal, just shows that this country really is a cash based society you can live so very happily without a credit card!

Yuki Sensei was helping me a ridiculous amount yesterday with locating a gym and so I gave him some Irish fudge sweets, to express his enjoyment he sucked, chewed and made some wonderfully load noises for the entire staff room to experience. I know he was being appreciative but it was awfully bizarre he sounded like a strange suffering animal, I can’t understand how I was the only one trying desperately to hide my sniggles. After that he proceeded to help me even more! Printing out and calling lots of Onsens in the area for information for me. He even drew out the kanjo sign for men and woman as he was worried I might stumble into the mens. Yuki Sensei also warned me quite alot that ‘you know Japanese take all their clothes off…ALL of their clothes you know?’ he was so worried I would look horrified so said that maybe because I was foreign they would make an exception. I told him not to worry I would be embracing the Japanese way as it was my home now. He clapped and smiled so much that most of the staff room joined in, they seem to enjoy clapping at me which can only be a great thing. They really like to clap and smile :)

150ml can of coke, very big!

A can of coffee!

My bank account book has Tom & Jerry pictures all over it and so does everyone else's (its not just the strange foreigner that gets the quirky book), so formal and serious I know. Could you imagine all the doctors, lawyers and builders in Ireland with Tom & Jerry bank books? You also get a card but I'm not sure what to use that for! To use the atm you insert your bank book not the card and it prints onto the book all your details about the transaction as well as your balance. Clever Asians.

ATM card

100yen shops (100yen is about 1 euro) are everywhere and nothing like the dodgy euro shops at home. Some are as nice as Avoca handweavers. They’re everywhere and there are lots of different ones, some classier than others. I am currently kitting out the gaff with the cutest Asia accessories from ‘Seria’ my favourite of all the 100yen shops. You can get everything from kitchen, garden, bathroom stuff, to food, picture frames, electronics…..and everything is flat rate 100yen. I need a limit per week as I am beginning to think Onsen’s and yen shops will take over my life in Japan!

When there are road works here, like any kind of road works small and big there is always a wee traffic man to guide you by car or foot. There are 2 small diggers on my road, everytime I pass them the man guides me around, most of the time the digger isn’t even on!

Japanese people walk so so fast, they talk out loud a lot to themselves which is hillarious and so hard to get used to and when they sneeze its terrifyingly. Other than that they are really really quite calm people.

Staff Room in school

Marc by Marc Jacobs by Goku-raku-yu

Onsen queens and vintage shops, an evening of pure delight! Christy, Sanomi, Jaqui and I take a traditional Japanese night after work. Grabbing a ‘Freshness Burger’ hitting some 100yen shops and visiting vintage clothes shops (which are packed with amazing little gems).

The system in the clothes shop is very clever, each item has a price tag with a picture of a fruit, the fruit corresponds to a large label pricing list. Each Wednesday the chart is flipped and the prices go down, so quick turn over means plenty of opportunities for great buys! Marc Jacob found me, he is brown and lovely, a bag that fits my work stuff so I justified the price (which was little considering his condition and social status) with the fact I will use him every day. Marc was a result of my first Japanese pay check! We are now greatest of friends!

MARC BY MARC JACOBS

Following this great shopping bliss was quite possibly my favourite thing about Japan so far, the Onsen baths i.e naked asian heaven! The one we went to is part of a chain called ''Goku-raku-yu' (click to see some swav pics). I’d heard lots about how great these were but still did not expect this greatness! I will explain step by step to try and capture the memorable experience! You enter the building (remove your shoes of course) and go to a ticket machine like the ones in train station, buy your ticket for 390 (under 4euro) and enter the ladies section! And then you see lots and lots of naked ladies…..and the lots and lots of naked ladies staring lots at the foreigners! You put your stuff in a locker once you’ve stripped, you can bring a ‘modesty towel’to cover your bits and of course your onsen basket. The onsen basket is something that I’m told you need to sort yourself out with if you are going to become an Onsen queen bee! It’s a small plastic basket with shampoo, conditioner, razor, face creams, foot scrubs, toothbrush and the list can go on. So first you sit down in a little area on a stool (its all a wet area now) with your mirror in front and your shower hose/taps. The stools are known as 'one million butt stools', as lots of naked bums have been sitting on them!! Here you scrub yourself to death, I’ve really never felt so clean. Some peeking Japanese ladies is all that will distract you from your joys. The Onsen is for all shapes and sizes. Lots of fat ladies scrubbing there extreme rolls (who knew there were fat Japanese?) and teeny tiny ones that I could fit in my hand. They are all ages from newborns to old age grey heads wandering around with everything hanging about! You can shave and everything in these areas and spend as long or as little time as you want, just so long as your well clean before the baths. Next you make your way around the various baths (and keep your hair tied up and out of the water), both outside and inside. We started outside in the large pond area, then the Chinese herbal tea bath (this one changes everyday, could be tea or herbs or rubber ducks), then my favourite, the personal baths which are pretty much huge flower pots of hot water that you sink and slide into. We made our way back indoors then which has a cold freezing pool, a sauna, Jacuzzi, extremely hot (too hot) bath and a bath that has electric currents running through it. The last I did not venture to as it does not sound enjoyable in the slightest and I am not a fan of the electric shocks as it is, never mind through water. Crazy people frying themselves in it! In between baths you can re-scrub yourself, we worked hard on our flaky feet! Now your job is done you are the cleanest mama in town, not to mention seriously relaxed, peace out.

Don’t forget lots of water afterwards and straight to bed! (Unfortunatly I actually had a sweaty 30minute uphill cycle, but this didn't take away the lovelyness at all) I look forward to chilling out in these amazing places for hours on end during the winter, where getting warm to the bone will be a godsend. They say they are amazing in winter outside when you're in the bath the snow falls all around you. I also found some great wooly undergarments in Uniqlo which I cannot wait to own!

Toilet Talk

It's not a toilet but it is a weiner on a stick!

So being foreign in Japan or being known as ‘guy-jing’ means a lot of social talk often resorts to ohhhhh the toilets!

It’s the peak of the summer currently high 30 degrees, no air-con apart from the large department stores. When you go to the toilet you peel off your tights, which as horrible as its sounds, are usually stuck to you and damp with sweat (lovely I know) before you know it you find your bum seated on a heated toilet seat. I mean why in god’s name do you want to sit on an uncomfortably warm (I would even say its very warm) seat when your way too hot as it is. Really baffles me, it’s not a nice feeling what so ever. Wait until the winter and I’ll probably be singing its praise though!

Looking at a Japanese toilet can be quite scary, the buttons, lights and noises can mean that you are risking a lot actually using it. Obviously unable to understand any of the kanji on the buttons means it takes me a few minutes to find how to flush them, I am constantly aware that I could end up pressing a bum washer button and everything I put in the toilet would therefore come straight back at me. Not too keen on making this happen for obvious reasons. So toilet time can be seriously stressfull and opting for the pit in the floor toilets can sometimes be a welcoming option to turn to.

I haven’t been brave enough to try out most of these buttons which accompany the toilets but I’ve been told that they have a various degree of strength for the bum washers. Some would lift you off the toilet others just give a sprinkle tinkle, some have soap built in and sometimes even perfume. There are then the noise making buttons, Japanese ladies are very conscious of others listening to them peeing and so they have buttons for distractions. Can you imagine pee-ing and then puff daddy just starts blasting from the loo! Some are flushing noises, others musical instruments or natural river/sea sounds. Still you go to the toilet for a reason and everyone knows what you are about to do so I’m not sure how effective these ladies believe the noises to be. One lady I heard of is a senior in a business and is so aware of people watching/listening to her that when she uses the bathroom she constantly flushes the toilet, extreme waste of water really.

When going to the bathroom in a public area I am sometimes offered a queue skip. Seriously polite thing to do, clearly everyone else needs to do their business, I try very hard to explain that I’m happy to wait my turn like a normal human but when it happens they are so persistant they won’t use the bathroom until I do. I am like the toilet QUEEN SHEEBA, or maybe I just look like I need to do my p-diddy thing really badly, who knows!

Whilst talking with people about all these bizarre contraptions I hear that the latest is the doctor toilet. So you do your thing, the toilet analyze your business and if something is wrong will send the report to your doctor, genuise creation!

Also another clever trick these kids have mastered is the toilet/sink combo. The water you fill the cistern with you use to wash your hands, very conservative :) Home toilets usually have a little bowl on top of the toilet for this. I only realized that’s what it’s for after much toilet talk with other foreigners! I just thought it was a nice little water fountain and kept travelling to the kitchen to wash my hands…..much to learn you see

Water sink saver

Tokyo and its begining....

View from Tokyo Plaza Hotel

Confusion

Laura Kelly, Ciara Kelleher and James Riodan in Tokyo subway!

Arriving to Tokyo on June 25th 2010 felt like a new world was begining, both inside me and all around me. New things I was walking towards in my life and strange images my eyes had never experinced.
We were warned and told of a culture shock but thinking I was well travelled meant I had not prepared myself for such the adventure and challenge. A language that is 100% unrecognisable with a script that looks like a painting to me, I became instantly lost beneath a surface. A race that has been built by a differnet world. The Japanese are small and neat, a very clean and modest society but by far the kindest most warm hearted people I have ever met.
Being swarmed by 45 other Irish while in Tokyo masked the outside world and gave us a bubble to hide inside, again ignorant to what lay ahead I beleived I had expierienced all there was to shock me! Little did I really know......
Once landing in my new home town, 'Aomori City' which is cushioned in the very northern tip of Japan's main island, I began to slowly slip deeper and deeper into a quiet panic. I was constantly asking myself why? why am I leaving the ones I love and diving into something I really had no idea if I would even make through never mind enjoy. I tried to constantly reassure myself that I wanted to come here, I begged for this position and I accepted an opportunity that some would have given anything for.
The day was a blur of exhaustion. In a swealtering heat of 35degrees and dressed in a full suit I was dragged around the town (air-con does not exist) to make my alien registration card, you'd think in this day and age they would think more of us than aliens! Making a bank account made me feel proud, this was going to be my first year solely depending on my own hard work, this was my bank account which I would fill soon! Seeing the school was a very exciting prospect, it is an amazing building newly built and in immaculate condition. It made me feel happy to see my desk were I would be working for the year and my classroom where I would be teaching. All together a very sweet deal. My new home I can't complain about, its very cute, its clean and came with everything I needed. I can't wait t fill it with tat!

The BasketBall Babes

Today to avoid the heat its good to wander the corridors as they are often cooler than the staff room. I also am trying to navigate my way around to learn my way! There is a basketball tournament on so there are even more students staring at me ('the guyging') than usual and I'm not sure which ones are Nishiko kids so I try just to say hi to everyone and anyone. I found the photocopy room downstairs which has some sort of fan in it so camp out there for an hour or so making posters.
It's strange the way they still act quite old fashioned in such a modern forward country. The basketball tournament is just boys, maybe there is a girls on another day, but each team has these sort of girl slave "managers". Its strange to think of them auditioning for such a job, its kind of like slavery. They run around after the boys with towels, drinks and clothing, like mothers they tender the boys every need!
Weird its like an extreme version of waterboy except its a group of well groomed girls!! The girls will never walk across the view of someone older than them, so as I stand watching the tournament everyone that passes dips down realy low as they walk by.

This morning NodaSensei brought me to my house after I arrived as she said there was someone wanting to measure my windows for new blinds. So 3 really small men are in my tiny house with myself and noda, they talk, discuss and measure the windows. Meanwhile I feel like Alice in Wonderland growing too big for my house. I am so big and they are so small!
The 3 of them running around me makes me realise why my house was made so small and why the counters are so obnoxioulsy low!
I sit and watch as of course they don't understand English, Noda occasionally translates whatever she understands but I pick up that I'm getting some new screens to keep the insects out, very happy about this!

Shoes Off Please

My shoe Locker at school

And so another traditional custom to embrace. The removing of the footwear!
Wherever you find yourself the taking on and off of the shoes is a common occurance, from houses, restaurants and bars to dressing rooms and offices. An indoor pair of shoes is an important staple of the wardrobe.
So I ventured into the shops last  night to find some amzaing ones full of pretty clothes and accesories. I got quite excited when I realised that I do infact fit into the clothes contrary to what I was told (being 5'11 in japan is unheard of) it was interesting trying to ask for sizes so I just abandoned that and stuck to the judgement of my eye.
When going to try something on you must hand your clothes to the staff, enter the changing room and they  hand in your clothes off the hangers. Quite a formal affair, something I was not warned about so felt very awkward when I enetered with my shoes on and caused a panic. It was such a relief to be able to wear something so light and breathable to work. In 35 degree and upward heat it is just so miserable in a suit with no aircon!
Also wearing no socks or tights is not so cool beans either, they all wear the nylon skin tights which are horrific in this heat or else these cute sock things!

Pretty slipper socks

Today is a scorcher and even in my new summer dress I feel in awful pain, the fan was removed for an unknown reason and the windows give no breeze, I am without a doubt melting away........

Evening bedroom temp Aug 9th 2010

Indoor slippers + Floor cleaners = Multi tasking!

A feeling of lost Inclusion

A difficult feeling to experience you would think, one I had never felt before, another first to add to the collection.
At my welcome party reception while the teachers are so nice and so very interested in where I am from, what I do, what I like and enjoy ect, English is often not their preferred language. At dinner when they are relaxed, speaking english is probably a great task and effort for them, a job. Often I found myself sitting alone surrounded by a sea of noises, unable to understand a word of Japanese it was like listening to a musical intrument. It is a feeling of intense isolation, not necessarily a bad feeling just complete and 100% isolation. You belong to their dinner, their conversation but you cannot become a part of it. I found myself waiting for them to laugh and I would just join in and hope for the best. Sitting and not laughing would draw far more attention or so my survival instinct believed!  For several minutes on end a conversation would flow without even a worried glance from one of them to check if I was looking scared, it was a normal thing for them not to constantly worry about my inclusion. But I was there in the very middle of it all and happy to experinence the odd sensation!

My 'big sister' Bec took me on an amazing road trip up the western peninsuala of Aomori Prefecture on my first weekend, saw some breathtaking views of rural Japanese country side and got some great pics!