Snapshot Saturday #9 - The Tsugaru Jamisen「The 津軽三味線」Show (12/12)

As I sat at my desk, nodding off, with all the time in the world and after two poorly prepared classes on certain teachers' parts, I made an executive decision to update my blog for this past Saturday's Snapshot Saturday post. So here I am!

This Saturday I was fortunate enough to watch Hide and also Shonda's Tsugaru Jamisen rehearsal since the tickets were unfortunately all sold out.

The show was at 4:00PM, and doors opened for practice at 9:00AM so we had to leave Aomori City by 7:00AM. Since I wasn't watching the actual show, I stayed with them from 7:00am when Hide picked us up, until around 2:30pm when I caught a train back to Aomori.

I was actually a bit late to the car because of some drinking escapades with friends the prior night and because I stayed in bed a bit too long. I wasn't able to eat breakfast either for that same reason, but at the moment I wasn't hungry. Before actually getting on the main route, Hide stopped by a konbini and I was able to grab an onigiri, or rice ball. After a while, we arrived at the venue, which was just next to Hirosaki castle, at around 8:25AM. It was a beautiful, clear day, but we were all quite cold. It was a while before the people who worked there opened the doors for us so we had to gaman (ENG: persevere) through it.

At around 8:50, the doors opened. From there, we were herded into a medium sized room with chairs and long desks. There were about 50 or more folks in the room with their beautiful tsugaru jamisen, and among the mostly older crowd there were actually some kids -- even as young as 7!

The performers numbered at around a few hundred and they filled the stage and played in almost perfect unison. The Tsugaru Shamisen has a very deep sound so it was pretty cool to hear 500 people play it.

I'll upload photos....eventually...maybe.... if I ever get back to this post.

Snapshot Saturday #8 - 「座禅」Zen Meditation in Asamushi (12/5)

All photo credits go to Hide-san!

This past Saturday we were invited by our wonderful friend, Hide, to participate in zazen (座禅; Zen Meditation) in the neighboring city of Asamushi, which hugs the coast just like Aomori and is famous for its onsen.

(L-R) Sasha, Kelsey, Me.
I knew about 10% of what the buddhist monk/our instrutor was saying. Hide sat on the far right of us while we sat in the smack middle of the group of about 10-15 other participants so we couldn't ask him to translate. All of our Japanese language ability is not too hot.

Another photo prior to the actual meditation. The buddhist monk was explaiing the meaning behind the tapestry. From the little that I understood, he explained that the golden character in the center wasn't even Japanese - it's in fact a sanskrit character. 

The monk gave each of us a pinch of this brown, aromatic powder that we used to rub on our hands, then our shoulders, arms, and legs.

Keenly listening. Or at least, trying to listen.

A good shot of half the room. Behind the monk was a section full of  golden buddha statues, incense, religious items in display boxes, etc. It was such a beautiful room.

This was the room that we waited in before and after the meditation session. Post-meditation we were treated to green tea and a cookie. And yes, it was snowy and cold outside.

A photo from the other end of the table for perspective.

In the end I'd say it was a very peaceful, relaxing experience. Like I said, I regrettably couldn't understand about 90% of what the Monk was saying, and I didn't have any help to translate during the session, so it was difficult to follow his instructions - I had to awkwardly glance while the whole room was meditating to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. Kelsey and Sasha had this same problem.

In regards to zazen session itself, we started with the brown powder that we rubbed in our hands, arms, and legs. Following that, we went into that difficult "criss-cross" type zen style seating, which quickly turned uncomfortable and cut off blood circulation to my legs. Luckily, during instructions he said it was fine if we didn't sit this way, but I tried my best. We spent a short while gazing at the tapestry while we took deep breathes. We then went in the classic buddhist pose with both hands resting in our lap and forming a circle with our index finger and thumb. We then "ohmed" for a few minutes.

Following the session, he asked us two questions (1) Did anyone of us fall asleep? (I think it was preferred if we were able to) and (2) Did anyone of us see the sanskrit character on the tapestry move? (It was supposed to move apparently).

All in all, it was definitely interesting. I said I'd try it again, but it was unanimous among us ALTs that we'd want to know the significance and meaning and instructions behind zazen before doing it again.

Tuna Sashimi Donburi set meal - 2,400 Yen. We split it.

after zazen we visited a foot bath where we soaked for a good 20 minutes, and then ate at a locally famous restaurant where I ordered Fried Squid Tempura meal set - we shared what was basically a Maguro (Tuna) mountain rice bowl. From here we made a few more pitstops, and made our way back to Aomori City.

The foot bath that we soaked in for a good while. We met two other Japanese folks who were alreaky soaking their feet and since I had my backpack I pulled out some optical illusions that I printed out for my students, and showed them to my friends, and then ultimately, the two Japanese strangers as well.

Trying the Tsugaru Jamisen

The shamisen is a traditional Japanese string instrument played throughout the island nation and I was lucky enough to try it thanks to one of the fellow ALT senpai and her (now our) Japanese friend who drove us.

This happened on this past Thursday, December 3 at the house of my senpai's teacher's teacher's wife (Confused?). The room we played in was a tatami room full of memorabilia and photos from the late husband who was apparently one of the most famous tsugaru jamisen players. My ALT senpai's teacher, therefore, was this famous man's apprentice and we were practicing in the widowed wife's house.

The wife and the teacher (both old grandmas) neither spoke a lick of English, so our senpai who is a 5th year ALT, and her friend who is native to Aomori helped translate. We had a formal aisatu or greeting with tea and a sort of gummy red-bean flavored snack that's native to Aomori. The women talked for a while about foreigners in Aomori, referring them to gaijin (Gaijin is a shortened, usually derogatory term for foreigners, while Gaikokujin is the more official, respectful way to say the same thing) and after about 20-25 minutes of chatting, we finally got started.

She began the demonstration with herself and the two students (The ALT senpai and her Aomori friend who drove us to the house) and it sounded so awesome... There's apparently a performance coming up as well, which is why they practiced the particular songs they demonstrated for us.After the trio performance, they played one more song together until the shamisen teacher played a song on her own.

With the last 20 minutes of the 1 hour lesson, she let myself and another ALT who has been here for 3 years, Sasha, try out the tsugaru shamisen.

As a side note, apparently the leathery topside area of the shamisen is made out of cat if it's high quality, and dog if it isn't. The teacher's pick was apparently made out of turtle shell and the strings -- I'm not too sure, nylon? This instrument sure isn't for any PETA-type people, that's for sure.

As most of you already know, I've never played nor tried to play an instrument before in my life, but I really wanted to try the shamisen ever since I learned that the tsugaru jamisen was a regional specialty of Aomori Prefecture. After a few picks at the three strings of the instrument, my senpai's Aomori friend commented that my playing was umai（うまい; delicious; very good), which was a nice boost of confidence.

It was actually so fun and from the plucking of individual strings, we moved on to plucking one string and plucking it again in the opposite direction (i.e. plucking going towards the shamisen and again plucking away from the shamisen). We then strummed a little bit and used our fingers to make different notes (or sounds, or whatever the technical term is for it.

All in al, it was a great experience, and I'm really thankful for my senpai and senpai's friend and teacher for giving me the opportunity to try it out. I have until this Saturday to decide whether or not I want to commit to it as Saturday is my senpai's performance and the teacher will be there seeking an answer-- it's a hard decision that I will have to make. Maybe I should give it a go.

(Late Post) Winter has come!

As of November 29th, Aomori City has "finally" started getting snow on the ground. Granted, on November 29th, the snow only stuck during the morning and turned into slush after, the real snow that actually stuck started on around December 4th.

My impression of snow while walking home from the BoE on Friday Dec. 4 - the first real day of snow.

Honestly, it really hasn't been that bad - yet. The sleet (みぞれ; mizore) is honestly worse than snow as each step you take goes into a slushy mix of ice and water. After Friday, thankfully, the clouds have been giving us snow that sticks rather than sleet. Temperature-wise it's been lingering at around 0 to 5 degrees Celsius, which is only bad when there is only wind to accompany it. My apartment is fairly cold, but just like everyone else, I stay under my kotatsu right when I get home. For those who don't know, a kotatsu is a Japanese style table with a heater underneath. Add a blanket to the mix and you are able to trap all the heat to keep your body warm. I also have an electric blanket that I use literally every night.

As I mentioned early, the weather is really only a pain in the neck when it's windy. However, if you're dressed for the weather (Insulated underpants and undershirt, thick sweater, scarf, hat, gloves, boots), even the wind isn't a problem. Many of my Japanese co-workers at my visit schools worry about me when I don't bring an umbrella, but honestly on the windy days it's better to leave it at home since the wind changes direction all the time and you'd end up being down at least 500 yen when, not if, your umbrella breaks.

The local "Universe" which is our grocery store that is about a 3 minute walk from home normally. This photo was taken Sunday Dec. 6th and the visibility due to the wind and snow was basically reduced to zero. Don't worry, I dressed warm!

 So yes. It's only been snowing for about a week now. I'm still generally enjoying the weather when I have time to enjoy it. I have made a snowman already, though mine are pretty sad. The first and only time I made my snowmen so far was on my walk home from Karaoke at around 1AM. The streets were blanketed with a sheet of powdery, white snow and I was literally the only person on the road - No cars, no people. I made 3 snowmen on that walk home as I sobered up and left a little gift for the other friends who would come back home a little bit later.

Snowman and a message that I made around 1AM after walking home from a prolonged karaoke session.

There is, however, still the issue of SNOW SHOES. The only shoes that I have at the moment are the casual, everyday black shoes with no real support or traction. The sidewalks and rounds haven't really become icy yet, but they will soon. Thankfully Papa Ludwig and family has a package with the gear en route, so I just have to survive this week and I will (should) be all set!

1 week of snow down,

~5 months of snow left.

Talking Star Wars with a 2nd Year (~Day 128)

Here's a little peak of what the JTE at my base schools hands me at the first day of the week when I work at their school:

	月 (12/7)	火 (12/8)	水 (12/9)	木	金
1	2-2
2
3	2-3
4	2-1
Lunch	2-1	2-2	2-3
5
6

Today, I write this blog post as I struggle to stay awake due to a lack of things to do. My tethering app on my phone is broken for some reason, and so I can’t use the internet to work on other projects of mine. Anyways, today I am working from my base school, and was assigned a class on 1^st, 3^rd and 4^th periods with the 2-2 class, 2-3 class, and 2-1 class, respectively. At this moment in time, I’ve finished my classes already, and they turned out being quite good. In class, the teacher provided two questions to select from, and they had to write answers to them and present them to the class after about 15 minutes. The two sentences they had to choose from were:

Q: What is your dream?

A: I want to be a ________.

Q: Why do you want to be a ________?

A: I want to be a ________ to _________.

Q: Where do you want to go?

A: I want to go to ________.

Q: Why do you want to go to ________?

A: I want to go to ________ to ________.

This was actually a great day relative to what I usually do with my 2^nd year teacher. Typically, I’m doing nothing more than reading dialogue from a book and repeating new vocabulary twice per word. Today, however,  I was able to talk to each student about these questions, walk around the class to help answer questions, and learn more about each student’s aspirations.

1^st period with the 2-2 class went quite well. Class flowed properly and the students had some really creative responses. Their speaking volume was quite low, but that is understandable with folks who are shy and are still learning the language.

3^rd period was 2-3 was probably the most enjoyable. Before class started, I had a conversation with a kid who was sitting in the front of the class. I commented about his pencil tin, which had a graphic of the Millennium Falcon and as a result we had a short conversation about Star Wars. I asked him if he liked Star Wars and whether or not he was going to see the new movie on opening night, or if he was going to see it over the weekend. He confirmed that he liked the movies, and that he would see the new movie on the first Saturday of the movie’s release. Once class started, each and every student had great, creative sentences just like the 2-2 class, but some boys in the back made a joke out of the lesson. They said

“I want to be a ________ to be strong and sexy”.

It wasn’t just one student, but rather around 3-5 students who used this same sentence with some minor changes, like putting in “cute” instead of “sexy”. The whole class erupted in laughter, but I still appreciated the fact that they were willing to be creative and not stressed about the grammar, and that they used it correctly.

After class ended, the boy who had a solid conversation with me about Star Wars approached me and gave me a Yoda-shaped eraser. This was frosting on the already delicious cake of good classes. Man. This kid. So awesome. So kind. So bright. He also understood everything that I was telling him so I knew that his comprehension level was really good as well. Unfortunately, I still don’t know his name because I just have too many students and it’s difficult without having a chart or booklet to look at with their names and pictures on it.­

The Yoda eraser that was given to me by a 2nd year student after class ended.

4^th period is a complete other story. Generally, this class is the least-behaved and has the lowest level English out of each of the 3 different classes for 2^nd year students. One student in particular is very loud and confident when answering questions, and while his comprehension and English is good, his attitude about it is quite disrespectful since his demeanor in class tells me that he really doesn’t care, and he’s in a “too cool for school” phase. During lunch with the 2-1 class, I also did not end up speaking to the students very much. They just are not talkative and don’t have confidence in their English for the most part. There were a good handful of students who paused and had to sit down without answering the questions we prompted them since they just totally blanked without knowing what to say.