Goodbye Japan!

I can't believe 10 months have flown by already! The unusual circumstances of this year made it impossible for me to stay longer, and I'm sad about how things turned out. Still, I'm super excited to be going home :)

Top 5 things I won't miss:

5. Earthquakes!

4. The ridiculous (and often seasonally inappropriate) fashion.

3. My crappy housing.

2. Not getting paid for work hours, and the office culture in general.

1. The crowded trains full of dirty businessmen.

Top 5 things I will miss:

5. The traveling, especially Shirakawa-go.

4. Tempura.

3. Gardens.

2. The amazing public transportation network.

1. The customer service.

And of course, my friend Kazuko!

A Japanese Mountain Town

On one of my last days in Japan, we took a day trip to visit my friend Kazuko's hometown. It's a small town pretty much at the end of a train line, surrounded by lakes and dominated by Mt. Fuji. We spent the day driving around the lake, getting different views of the mountain we climbed but never actually got to see because of fog.

There was also a small market made up of a collection of old thatch-roofed houses.

The houses were surrounded by small pools with beautiful crystal clear water, that were all connected by a series of underwater tunnels.

For lunch we went to Hoto Fudo (Hot Food). We each got our own piping hot cauldron of delicious soup, though it was a massive portion.

And as all small towns around the world, this one is also famous for arts and crafts. We tried our hand at pottery...
I made a bowl and a sake carafe.
Our last stop was a tunnel full of Christmas lights! These illuminations are famous all over Japan, and rightfully so. It was interesting to see so many lights in non-traditional Christmas colors (blue, pink and green).
And finally, we got a tour of Kazuko's childhood home. Unlike most Japanese homes, this one was huge! Kazuko is also a calligraphy expert.

Tatami floors and sliding doors are a staple of traditional Japanese homes. As are low doorways.

Weird Japanese Toys

There are many toy stores, especially in Akihabara, that cater to creepy men. It is not unusual to end up in a store with entire racks of slutty little dolls (some of them clearly children) to chose from. Pun intended.

This chick is slutty AND riding a fish.
The most disturbing of all phenomenons is that of Japanese pop group AKB48. The group is made up of 48 girls who started out in Akihabara (hence the name), and were marketed as the idols you could always meet because they play concerts at a major store in the neighborhood every day.

Since there are 48 members, they rarely perform together and are able to travel around the country for marketing endeavors. Audiences are also encouraged to vote for their favorite member and there is a constant competition to be #1. And, most importantly, the girls are constantly appearing in ads for everything from food to real estate agents.

The most disturbing fact is that the target audience are note little girls, but 20 something year old males. In the rest of the world, these pop groups (e.g. Spice Girls) always target teenage girls, and even if men are into collecting pictures or posters, they would never openly admit to being interested in the group.

As a result of targeting these male nerds, there have been many AKB48 computer and video games released. There is a NintendoDS game where you can chose your favorite AKB girl bachelor-style, by voting off the other girls one by one and having to deal with their reactions of anger or devastation at having been dumped by you.

In another game you control the girls as they beat the crap out of each other Street Fighter-style vying for the championship.

And finally, the pearl of all WTF ads: the mobile billboard on a truck for their latest game. As you can see, she's breastfeeding a baby and the text says: Let's make a baby!

That's right, you can now buy a game where you can fuse your picture with that of your favorite girl to see what your future offspring will look like.

As for the truck ad, these are actually quite common in Japan. Usually, they also come with musical accompaniment.

Silly Businessman

Drinking culture in Japan is insane! When you think of the world's boozy nations you always think Irish, Scottish, Polish... The Japanese never appear on that list, but after living here for almost a year, I'm convinced that they should be catapulted to #1.

There are two reasons for this:

#1 In Japanese culture you cannot say "no". So when someone pours you a drink, you drink.

#2 You cannot contradict your boss or tell them what you really think if you disagree with them. This is why bosses often invite their employees out drinking (remember, you can't say no). At these events everyone gets wasted and grows the balls to tell their bosses what they really think. The next day they apologize and blame it on the liquor. The boss gets to hear what their employees really think AND save face.

As a result, it is not uncommon to see a businessman (suit, briefcase and all), sitting in a pile of their own vomit. Even more common, random businessmen passed out at train stations. No, I'm not joking, and no, this isn't an isolated incident.

Hiking Mt. Takao

With the discovery of high levels of radiation in Tokyo Bay, and the bringing of contaminated debris from the disaster area to Tokyo, I decided to quit my job and leave Japan. The process was very smooth, so smooth in fact, that I had a few days off in Japan to do the last few things on my list. One of them was hiking Mt. Takao to see the leaves turning.

In Japan, there is no remote countryside or extreme wilderness, and the train dropped us off right at the foot of Mt. Takao.

There were lots of little shops and restaurants, including this Fish-On-A-Stick place.

Apparently Mt. Takao is a natural habitat for flying squirrels. Unfortunately we didn't see any because they are nocturnal.

The view from Mt. Takao. You can see Yokohama, and in the distance the outline of Tokyo's Sky Tree.
There was also a monkey park, where we could see adorable baby baboons as well as very well trained adults (baboons, not humans).
Sometimes a baboon would get in the swinging bucket, and it was adorable. During feeding time some of the food ended up in the bucket, and the wittier baboons went over to eat out of it. Sometimes they would tip it over to see if more had fallen in.
Mt. Takao wasn't very much of a hike, as it was a leisurely walk up a paved and crowded road all the way to the summit. The trail up was lined with temples.

The view from the summit. Normally you can see Mt. Fuji, but with our luck, we barely caught a glimpse of it. You can also see some of the leaves turning, but it's not as dramatic as the color changes in Canada.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

In Japan, New Year's is the big family holiday, while Christmas is just a commercial holiday brought over from the west. It's mainly a couples holiday, where people go out for dinner (much like on Valentine's Day). Still, the country goes all out in Christmas decorations.

This year for Christmas in Japan I got my wisdom teeth removed and 5 Dutch guys.

They're all tall. So tall in fact, that it's difficult to navigate Tokyo's metro system without getting stuck. It was clearly designed for the locals.

This is the Christmas tree at my school; it's a bit of a decorative failure. I casually mentioned that trees this size are meant to be on the floor, but they didn't believe me. They just think I'm a humbug.

One of the many, many Christmas trees in Ginza.

And quite possibly one of my favorite Christmas decorations ever:

Ginza by night, and pretty much what I look out at everyday while I teach.

Trick Art Museum

We visited a pretty nifty trick art museum in Odaiba, where you could interact with the murals for a fun effect.

There were also ninjas, so we had to employ our mad skills.

Little Rick...

Big Rick...
Tiny Anna...
Medium Anna...
This mirror wasn't very good.

Sake!

We were also harassed by monsters.

I was almost eaten alive.

Feeding the penguins was fun though!
Being fed to the sharks, not so fun.
This is payback for all the flies I trapped...

Cheesy, I know.