Ah, to be a newbie again!

It's a great time of year when all the new JETs arrive to Japan in the summer. Their bright-eyed and bushy-tailed fascination with every minor detail and the quirkiness of this country has made me realize what a jaded 'sempai' JET I've become. It was good to go camping with the newbies (I use the term affectionately) at Lake Shikotsuko this past weekend as they bring new life and energy to the island and the JET community. It was sad to see old friends leave but it's equally exciting to see all the new personalities!

It was a normal two-day weekend but I decided to man up and do the five-hour drive across the island to the lake for the Central Welcome Party. I drove up with my Kiwi friend, Ben, and Chris (the same one I went to Wakkanai with) on Friday night after work and made a stop in Asahikawa to pick up a new Canadian JET - Nicole - who's from Calgary! Minutes after picking her up, we were caught up in a small incident involving my car's bumper hitting another car's bumper, leading to my 2nd run-in with the police in a month (which I hope isn't becoming a trend..). Luckily, the damage was so minimal that they couldn't find anything wrong with either of our cars. After an hour of experiencing Japanese bureaucracy first-hand with a flustered wife, a slightly drunk husband, and two bored police officers, we were finally off to Sapporo to spend the night.

The next two days were spent at beautiful Lake Shikotsuko, camping with JETs from across the island. We chilled in my car with the roof open, swam in the frigid lake waters, shoved marshmellows in our mouths, attempted to fold origami cranes, ran with eggs, chugged orange juice, wrestled the socks off each other, played Japanese drinking games, sang songs, lit up sparklers, waited in line to hike nearby Mt. Tarumae, and discovered that Bear found a mate. It was a fun weekend and definitely worth the roadtrip across the island. As we were heading home from the lake on Sunday, we were caught up in another incident involving my car when my brakes decided to squeal and heat up on me. We spent an extra two hours (and $140) in Sapporo at a car garage, waiting for my new brakes to be installed. We all eventually made it home safe and sound (with many combini stops later) to shower, relax, and sleep in our own beds... only to rest up and do it all again this weekend for the Eastern Welcome Party!

This past weekend I took another trip up to Wakkanai (my first visit was last year) with my friend Chris. We were attempting our second climb of Mt. Rishiri - the volcano island off the coast of Wakkanai - and this weekend was the only time this summer I had time to climb it. Our first attempt was foiled by four feet of snow on the peak so we went earlier this year, hoping for better weather.

We took off after work on Friday and drove 3.5 hours to the Northern edge of Japan. We were staying with a new JET - Valerie - who had just come to Japan last month and whom I'd met two weekends ago at Sapporo Orientation. We went out that night to meet up with two other Wakkanai JETs - Mike and Elizabeth - to hang out at a fancy, closet-sized bar where the bartenders wore suits and bowties. After a few hours there and some midnight ramen, we headed back to get some sleep to catch the early-morning ferry.

At 5:00am, I was woken by the sound of splattering rain on the balcony. I got up and looked outside to see the rainclouds regurgitating an ocean of water back into the sea. I woke Chris up and we decided we'd have to cancel the hike that day.. hiking in a drizzle would've been okay but that rain would soak us in seconds. A little disappointed, we went back to sleep and slept until the afternoon. Rishiri had defeated us once again..

We didn't have plans that day so another new JET - Alex, who was placed on Rebun Island - came over and the four of us went to get breakfast/lunch at Niko-Niko Bentou. It was noon and the rain hadn't let up at all. Valerie was invited to a Yosakoi festival by her supervisor so we decided to go and check it out. We got there early and fought against the hundreds of cars trying to pack into the parking lot. There was a outdoor mainstage, a food village, a secondary gym with bleachers in case of rain, and was six hours long with groups from as far away as Okinawa, Gifu and Chiba! It was a pretty big deal. We watched the cute kindergarten students do their soran in the gym before heading outside to take in some of the food. We watched the main stage for a bit and stuck around long enough to see some of Valerie's and Alex's students perform. I even ran into Nami, a JHS student who fell in love with me at HEC Camp. About half-way through, we decided to go for supper where Valerie and Alex had their first taste of okonomiyaki and monjyaki. Then we went to 'M' for a long, enjoyable night of Karaoke. We ended with a drive to Sukiya at 2:00am to finish off our gastronomical day with gyudon and miso soup.

The next day was spent relaxing with an afternoon walk in the park behind Valerie's house. We saw great views of Wakkanai and the Sea of Okhotsk from the lookout points on the hill and even went up the Wakkanai Memorial tower to get a panoramic view of the entire cape - including Rebun island, the cloud-misted Rishiri island, and Russia in the distance! We browsed through the museum at the bottom of the tower to learn about the history of Sakhalin island, then ate lunch before making the long drive back home. It was another short, intense weekend in Wakkanai and, even though we didn't get to climb Rishiri, was a weekend well spent. I'm going to attempt Rishiri again next summer and I'm hoping the weather will cooperate then. I'm determined not to leave Japan until I've scaled Rishiri! As they say, third time's a charm.

I randomly stumbled upon this little gem of a festival in my town last week during Obon, the festival to celebrate one's ancestors. I was tipped off by the sound of taiko drumming, the hanging paper lanterns, and the food tents just down the street from my apartment building. I left my apartment, walked 15 seconds up the street, and literally stepped into a Halloween costume catalog. There were people dressed up in everything you could imagine - cowboys, geisha, vampires, maids, anpanman, native indians, angels, Thomas the Tank Engine, witches, power rangers and other, only-in-Japan creations. Everyone danced around a pillar doing the "Bon Dance" (to honor the dead) while they were judged for best dance and best costume. The festival went on for a few hours and I got to try my hand at the Taiko drums. I've always wanted to do Taiko (real, not arcade) so it was pretty exciting for me. After telling them I wanted to join, I learned that I've already been a member of the town's Taiko group for months now. Apparently they signed me up earlier but forget to tell me when they practice! Here are some of the pics of the amazing costumes that puts Halloween to shame. Enjoy!

After a few hours of sleep at the capsule hotel, I caught the early train to the airport to meet Larissa. She’d just finished four weeks in Thailand and Vietnam and decided to spend a week layover in Japan before flying back to Canada. We met at the airport, with her still groggy and tired from her red-eye flight, and took the express train back to Tokyo. After a brief incident where I had to retrieve my bag from a locker and missed our scheduled train, we caught the next Shinkansen (bullet train) down to Kyoto.

The next three days were spent exploring Kyoto and sweating it out in the muggy 30°C weather. It was Larissa’s first time to Japan so I taught her a bit of Japanese, Japanese culture and, of course, introduced her to Japanese cuisine. We had a relaxing time in Kyoto, took our time, didn't set out until the early afternoon each day, and went to nowhere in particular. We wandered the sunny streets as it rained, saw Nijo-jo and the Shogun’s palace, walked through the amazing maze of street arcades in the trendy Pontocho district, saw geisha walking along in their vibrant Kimono in Gion, took in the illuminating night lanterns of Yasaka shrine, walked through the endless red Torii gates at the Fushimi-inari shrine, and drank in the healing waters at Kiyomizudera. We had Purikura taken (no trip in Japan is complete without doing Purikura), played Taiko drums at the arcade, ate okonomiyaki, kaitenzushi, ramen, takoyaki, soba, and McDonald’s shrimp burgers, photographed plastic food and colossal parfaits, hugged mascots, and spent a lot of time walking and chatting.

My favorite part of Kyoto was actually the day trip out to Nara, a city 40 minutes from Kyoto. In the center of the city is a huge national park that has numerous UNESCO World Heritage Site temples and Todaiji, the largest wooden building in the world, which houses the biggest Buddha statue in Japan. The main attractions are the deer that roam freely throughout the park, hoping to be fed deer cookies by passing tourists. They’re designated national treasures and have gotten so used to humans they don’t mind being pet, or (if you happen to be holding deer cookies), nibbling at your clothes and poking you with their antlers! We wandered around the park for an entire day, saw the impressive giant Buddha, crawled through tiny holes in temple pillars, walked through moss-ridden temples, watched ponds full of turtles, tried an earthquake simulator, fed the deer, and relaxed in the park. When night fell, we happened to catch the second-last night of a lantern festival where they lit up the park paths with candle lanterns. By the lake there were candles surrounding the lake, a candle-lit gazebo, floating rowboats with glowing paper lanterns, and a full moon in the sky. It was absolutely beautiful out so we spent half an hour there enjoying the night scenery. Any trip to Kyoto wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Nara and was probably, for me, the highlight of my entire trip.

The next day we went to Kyoto station for our second dose of kaitenzushi (and her first taste of natto) before I caught my flight back to Sapporo for a wedding the following day. As with Tokyo, three days was definitely not enough time to fully explore Kyoto (I didn’t get to see any Japanese gardens or Noh plays!). Once I finish on the JET Programme, I’ll spend a month traveling around Japan and make down to Hiroshima to get my fill of Japanese culture before I leave, including a trip back to Kyoto to wander about more.

Neon lights, crowds of people, skyscrapers, Shinto shrines, crazy fashion – everything you’d expect when you hear about Tokyo. My Canadian friend, Larissa, was visiting Japan for a week after a month in Southeast Asia, so I decided to meet up and travel around Kyoto with her for a few days. She was flying into Narita airport so I headed down to Tokyo a few days before she arrived to explore on my own. The only other time I’ve been to Tokyo was over a year ago, when I first arrived on JET, but I didn’t stray outside of Shinjuku (where the conference was being held) so I didn’t consider that I’ve actually “been” to Tokyo. This time, I had three days, a subway map, and all the time in the world.

In a city the size of Tokyo you need at least a week just to scratch the surface (the subway line that runs around the city takes an hour to go around once!). I was staying in Asakusa so the first thing I went to see was the Kaminarimon (Thunder Gate! what a cool name), with its massive 12m paper lantern, that stands at the entrance of Senso-ji, a large Buddhist temple in the heart of the city. After wandering around Senso-ji and the jumble of side streets of old Tokyo, I headed to the electronic district of Akihabara.

As I exited the train station, my senses were assaulted from the noise of the crowd, the calls of the salespeople, and the neon signs and multi-story billboards plastered to the sides of the buildings. Akihabara is the heart of “Otaku” culture, filled with video games, electronic stores, arcades, hobby shops and manga stores. Women dressed in maid costumes stand on the sidewalks and invite patrons into their maid cafes, tiny entrances lead into a multi-story building full of computers, TV’s and cell phones, four-storey bookstores are filled with jostling customers and small alleyways and staircases lead to non-descript adult stores. It’s said that any electronic part you think of can be found in Akihabara. I spent a few hours wandering around, poking in and out of the countless stores and wishing once again that I was fluent at Japanese.

The next day I got a more traditional dose of Japanese culture by visiting the sprawling Emperor’s palace in the middle of Tokyo. It was drizzling that day, but it only helped to dispel the crowds as I strolled through the Japanese gardens next to the palace. I walked through the high-class district of Ginza and made my way to the shopping districts of Shibuya and Harajuku. Shibuya is my most favorite part of Tokyo (so far). It’s a district with narrow pedestrian streets at all angles to each other and full of tiny (and some not so tiny) stores, shops and restaurants. It’s busy and bustling until all hours of the night, partly due to the fact that just up the hill is the highest concentration of nightclubs and love hotels in Japan. It also has the busiest scramble crosswalk in the world where you could spend hours watching the sidewalks continually fill up with humanity and spill into the streets (which is what I did.. for maybe 20 minutes). Harajuku is another infamous shopping area geared mainly towards trendy youth. It was probably due to its fame that the streets - lined with cosmetic shops, gothic Lolita, hairstylists, crepes stands, lingerie stores and cafes - were packed to the brim with people and tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of the crazy fashion.

That night I decided to stay in a capsule hotel since the hostel was booked up. There was enough room to sit cross-legged and to stretch out, and weren’t as claustrophobic as pictures make them out to be. There was an onsen on the roof, air conditioning, clean blankets, a TV, and it only cost 3000yen a night… it was perfect!

The morning of my last day I went to Ryogoku to catch the sumo wrestlers at practice, but was unfortunately closed that day. I did manage to catch a glimpse of the sumo wrestlers riding down the street on their mama-chari bicycles. Next I did the touristy thing and hit up the Tokyo tower. I got a great view of the Tokyo skyline from 150m in the air, with its skyscrapers that continue to the horizon. It was cloudy that day so I couldn’t get a view of Mt. Fuji but the 820yen elevator ride was worth it. That night happened to be the night of the welcome enkai for all the new JETs coming to Hokkaido so, after a quick nap at the capsule hotel, I headed over to Shinjuku and Kabuki-cho (the red-light district) to explore a bit before I had to meet up with them. We all met up, drank, ate food and chatted it up with our new neighbors and before long, I had to make my way back to my capsule hotel on the other side of the city. Larissa was arriving at 7:30am the next morning so I had to catch the first train at 5:00am in order to meet up with her at the airport on time. I didn’t want to get lost on my way to the airport so I figured out which subway lines to take beforehand and, after a brief incident with the JR Metro police (which ended up me getting searched and fingerprinted), I felt confident enough to navigate the Tokyo subway blindfolded.

As I lied down in my little plastic box to catch a few hours of sleep, I thought back over everything I’d done in the past three days. There’s so much to do and see in every nook and cranny at all times of the year that you could spend a lifetime in Tokyo and not see everything. Tokyo, like Hong Kong (and as all big cities seem to do), managed to reel me in and make me want to see more. I'll have to go back there again too some day.