"Oh where? Oh where has my little dog gone?.."

I don't have a dog, but someone has gone missing, or so I think.

Every time I bike to the gym I bike the same way. My way requires me to cross at a crosswalk in between the grocery store (Super Center) and the electronics store (Max Denkodo). This is my favourite cross walk because it's guarded by the most agreeable crossing guard. He always smiles, and acknowledges me when I say "hello and thank you.' in Japanese.

I have noticed recently, however, that he's not there anymore. Perhaps he's just changed shifts, or always on break when I go by, but nonetheless it's been a few days since i've seen him and I miss his friendly manner and superb traffic stopping skills. I hope he's okay.

Please come back Mr. Crossing Guard!!

Indoor water parks?

Yumoto in Iwaki is known for its hot springs or Onsens. It is also known for Spa Hawaiians. Iwakis very own indoor water park. The whole idea is a little sketch for me, but it turned out to be an interesting experience.

Today Logan,Kristin and our Japanese friend Masako went to Spa Resort Hawaiians. Its about $40 to enter so I wouldn't have gone, but we had free passes. Inside this hotel/dome like building are water slides, a lazy river, a sports pool, Pacific themed stages with live culture shows, restaurants, hot springs and about a trillion Japanese people. It seems that this is THE place to go for families on weekends.

It was like any other water park really except smaller because of its indoor location and the small size of Japanese people. I even managed to get through the whole day without seeing one of my students (a big fear of mine).

The water park was pretty neat but the highlight of my day was one of the onsens (even though I didn't have a modestly towel). It was the most traditional hot spring baths that I have ever seen. It was partly indoor and outdoor and used all the traditional onsen tools. We didn't sit on plastic buckets to shower rather we poured water of a specific temperature over out bodies with wooden ladles when we entered and exited the pool. The bottom and edges of the pool/bath were large rocks to lean against or sit on. The breeze of fresh air added to this authentic Japanese bathing experience. There was a wooden steam room, with various herbs in the steam. It was so beautiful and I wanted to take pictures but cameras are forbidden for obvious reasons. Here is the URL for pictures of the Onsen. Its actually Japans largest open-air bath, called Edo Jowa Yoichi. I would go back again just for this.

http://www.hawaiians.co.jp/english/02park/yoichi.html

I give Spa Resort Hawaiians (mostly Edo Jowa Yoichi) a big thumbs up!

Canyoning and Rafting

This weekend a group of us ALTS from Iwaki (John and Meiko, Nina and Sean, Liz, Juan and Logan) and I went to Minakami in Gunma Prefecture to go canyoning and rafting. What's canyoning you ask? Read on and you shall find out!

Early Sat morn the group of us packed into John and Meikos cars. We didn't take the expressway so it was a short (cough cough) 8 hour ride to our destination, Canyons! Saturday we hit a local Onsen and spent the night at a ski resort (pension in Japanese) called La Neige. It was a resort with tatami mat rooms and onsens as showers/baths. We had one of the best meals I've had so far in Japan (caesar salad, scallops and cheese and steak...mmmmm)and played Jenga. We got a good nights rest for our big adventure on SUN!

Sunday was our day of crazy FUN! We started off with a few hours of canyoning. Canyoning is when you coast down rivers and slide over waterfalls. This was the highlight of my day. We were decked out in super thick wetsuits(1 cm), helmets, and bum pads to protect our backsides from rocks. The first waterfall was 20 meters. They hung us over this one on a rope then let us free fall down the falls into the open water below. I was one of the first so I got to watch most of my group go. Logan ended up twisting around and going down the waterfall with his face against the rock. It was soo fun but it was just the beginning.

The next tasks included sliding down a waterfall headfirst, climbing up and jumping off cliffs, and walking across a small waterfall. All this was followed by a BBQ back at Canyons. To top it off the people running this were mostly hilarious Australians and Kiwis.

White water rafting was okay too. Liz had difficulties staying in the raft which was hilarious. Juan pulled out his steller impression of a dog for the second time in 24 hours and kept us entertained. Our guide would sometimes forget we were all foreigners and start shouting instructions in Japanese and a combination of both " HAI MIGI...HAI STOP!!". We all agreed that rafting was "good crack" (How was my attempt at Irish lingo Liz??)

Anyhoo, we all had a blast and hope to go back next year to spend a day canyoning and a night partying with the folk from down under.

"ichi(1), ni(2), ichi, ni...HAI STOP!"

Belated March Musings

I know I know- this entry is a little belated. I started writing an Hello from Iwaki update about it but never finished it. Its about school graduations in Japan. I experienced my first one in March and they are just soo quirky.

The Month of March in Japan marks the end of the school year in public schools. Graduation ceremonies are also held for the 5 and 6 year olds in Kindergarten, the 6th graders for elementary and the final year of high school students.

Fisrt here's a little background of the school system!

JHS students must apply to get into high school. This process starts as early as Christmas if not earlier. In fact for the final 6 months of 3rd year students aren’t allowed to participate in school activities, as all their time has to be put towards the various aspects of this process. Firstly, they must write an entrance test for every high school they want to apply to. Not all high schools are the same either. Some are known for academics, some specialize in specific subjects; sports or music and others are trade high schools. Iwaki has a port town, Onahama, and many students in this area go to a school that specializes in fishing. This aspect is very similar to the final year of High School when everyone is applying to Universities. I am happy that we didn’t have to experience that stress any earlier in our school careers.

One good thing for the students is that they don’t have to worry about their grades. Grades are only a matter for personal evaluation as everyone in the school will pass no matter what. Yes, that’s right, it’s a pass or fail system where no one ever fails. The Japanese culture is one that avoids confrontation and values conformity, so everyone gets treated the same and will pass regardless of their attitudes, grades and effort. It’s a little hard for me to fully understand. The students have no consequences to face if they are little buggers, and because of that so many of them are. This only causes greater gaps of academic ability between certain high schools and leads to a great number of people in Japan not seeing the value of education. In some of my schools it is not uncommon for a handful of students to not even go to high school.

The graduation ceremony for every JHS in Iwaki took place on the same day. I attended the graduation of one of the schools I visit. From what I heard, every school ceremony was identical even down to the colour of the suit worn by the Principal- GREY with tails.

The graduating students are divided male and female and sit in those groups from shortest to tallest in their classes(all in their school uniforms of course). The MC would call their name (all then girls, then all the guys) and they had to yell yes in Japanese to indicate they heard. Then they made their way to the stage and no joke, they had to bow at least 7 times in this whole 2 minute process- I counted! They bowed to parents, teachers, Board of Ed Staff and who knows who else to. Every student was identical, they all bowed at the same places, held their certificate the same way, said yes at the same volume. Furthermore, when it was time for the audience to show respect and clap or something, they would all just bow in unison as if on being conducted. It was all a little weird to me but I suppose it was to be expected given they practiced this ceremony for about 2 months before hand.

Some students had to give speeches and they were crying so hard that you couldn't hear a word they were saying. Ok, so nothing different there from some of our graduations, but in Canada the teachers don't cry as well. Yup, the teachers were bawling too, even the male ones. The relationship these teachers have with the students is just nothing like I've seen before. The male students were gushing too. I felt right at home because I was in a room full people just as sensitive as ME!! hehe

That's about it for graduation- well, until next March anyways.