大阪城でのお花見 Flower Viewing at Osaka Castle

先週末の良い天気のかげで、今年初花見ができました。土曜日の昼頃友達と一緒に大阪城公園に行きました。もちろん、お花見をする人々が多かったが、その上、公園の中コンサートもあったので、すごい人いっぱいでした。でも、桜が満開だったし、温かかったし、完璧でした。お花見の楽しい雰囲気があるので、一年中この季節が一番いいと思います。

Thanks to the nice weather of this past weekend I was able to go for my first flower viewing party of the year. On Saturday afternoon I went with my friends to Osaka Castle Park. Of course there were a lot of people there to enjoy the cherry blossoms, but there was also a concert in the park too so it was so crowded. But the cherry blossoms were in full bloom, and the weather was warm so it was perfect. Because of fun atmosphere of flower viewing I think this is the best time of year.

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梅のお花見 Plum Blossom Viewing

日本では春になるとお花見が大人気の遊びです。多くの人がお花見を考えたら、桜と想像するでしょう。今京都府では桜がまだまだ咲いていないので、先週末に京都市内の植物園へ梅を見に行きました。そのときに、梅が満開だったので、とてもきれいでした。桜より梅はもっと深いピンクと紫色だし、白もあるので、すごくきれいな景色でした。

In Japan once it turns to spring during hanami (flower viewing) is a very popular activity. For most people, thinking about hanami conjures images of cherry blossom trees. Right now the cherry blossoms have yet to bloom in Kyoto Prefecture so last weekend I went to the Kyoto City Botanical Gardens to see the plum blossoms. At that time the plum blossoms were in full bloom so it was very beautiful. Compared to the cherry blossoms the plum blooms in deeper pinks and purples, along with white so it creates a really gorgeous scenery.

(下の写真は早めに咲いていた桜です。 The picture below is a early blooming cherry blossom tree.)

冬の気分 It Feels Like Winter

土曜日の夜雨が降っていたので、日曜日の朝に起きたとき、窓から外へ見て、雪が積もっていたのはすごくびっくりしました。今まで精華町に住んで、２年目の冬ですのに、初めて雪が積もることでした。約５ｃｍしか積もってなかったが、すごいけれいと思っていました。

そして、その冬の気分で、友達と一緒に京都市の西京極にあるアイススケート場に行きました。なんとか、今までの人生は一回もアイススケートをしたことがありませんでした。だから、初めてでした。一発目は怖いと思っていたが、頑張って三時間をスケートしたら滑れるようになりました。勿論、倒りましたが、楽しい経験でした。

This past Saturday night it was raining all night long so when I woke up and looked out the window to see snow covering everything on Sunday morning I was really surprised. This is the second winter that I have lived in Seika Town but this was the first time I have seen snow covering the ground. There was only about 5cm of snow covering cars and in the rice fields, but I thought it looked really beautiful.

So with that feeling of winter, my friends and I went to the ice skating rink in Nishi Kyogoku, Kyoto City. Somehow I have made it this far in my life without ever once having ice skated, so this was my first time. When I first stepped onto the ice it was really scary and I didn’t even see how I would start. But we were there for about 3 hours so by the end I was able to skate fairly well. Of course I fell down, but all in all it was a fun experience.

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スノボード Snowboarding

Even though I have lived in Japan for a total of two and a half years now I had never gone skiing or snowboarding until recently. I used to snowboard a lot when I was a teenager and then less frequently when I got into college so I am decent at snowboarding and I do really like it. I guess the reason why I had never gone until now was mostly due to the fact that I wear size 31cm shoe (US 13) and I just assumed they would never have my size boots for rental at the ski shops since I can never find my shoe size at any shoe store in Japan. That and the fact that I don’t have a board or any other gear of my own with me here in Japan so I knew it would be expensive to rent everything and pay for the lift ticket and transportation.

Well, it turns out I was wrong about the first assumption but dead on with the second. They do have size 31 cm boots for rental at Takasu Snow Park where I went, and yes it was really expensive for everything. Three friends and I rented a car and drove about 5 hours to Gifu Prefecture in the middle of the night to get there the next day and start boarding at 9am. I guess its been about 2 years since the last time I boarded so it was really fun to feel the sensation of gliding down a snowy mountain again. But by the end of the day my legs and knees were so sore from the unfamiliar exercise.

I don’t know if all Japanese ski slopes are the same but the one I went to was really different from ones I’m used to back home in one particular way: At home my favorite part of boarding is to leave the groomed course and weave in and out of the trees on the relatively untouched and softer snow. The trees on the mountain here were much denser and had a lot more low branches so it wasn’t really possible to cut a path through them. Plus the rules seemed a lot more strict here as there was almost always fencing put up right on the side of the groomed slopes so that you couldn’t go off the beaten path. That was a let down, but all in all it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately it was really pricey for one day of fun so it doesn’t look like I will be going too often.

I only got these two pictures of the mountains from the parking lot in the morning because I didn’t want to risk breaking my camera when I took an inevitable crash on the slopes.

（日本語版はちょっと遅れますので、すみません。）

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いごもり祭 Igomori Festival

For those of you who are faithful readers of this blog you will remember my post from last year about the Igomori Festival (see January 2007 archive). Well, this year I went again to the festival and it was just as firey as last year. This is the festival that began more than 1,000 years ago to scare off an evil spirit that was haunting the local Hahasono woods.

What they do is light a huge bamboo torch on fire and haul it around the neighborhood to scare off the spirit and thus insure a good crop for the year. The torch is about 3-4 meters (12 ft) in height, really big in girth and weighs a lot. They light a big fire inside of the shrine building with flames licking the ceiling yet somehow not burning down the whole thing. Then they stick the torch on the fire and get one end burning real good. After it is sufficiently on fire about 6 men haul the torch about 3 km around the neighborhood in the dark.

It is pretty amazing to watch. This year I followed the torch around the neighborhood for a while. It was pretty funny because they would get to a stop light and wait for it to turn green. Since the festival isn’t very well known I can only image the shock of the people in cars that happened to see 6 men in all white robes carrying a humongous burning torch down the street in the middle of winter. This year I just brought my little digital camera so the photos I got might not be such great quality. I don’t like to use the flash as it just ruins the night time eerie feel, but no flash often comes out blurry. Here are the best photos I could get.

（日本語版はちょっと遅れますので、すみません。）

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弓始式 Gentlemen, start your bows!

I’ve been pretty busy doing elementary school visits for work lately so its been a while since I had a chance to update the blog. I do however have some things to write about so here I go with the catch-up posts.

A couple weeks ago I went to a secluded Shinto shrine for a small traditional festival. I don’t think there is a good way to translate the name of the ceremony into English so here is the Japanese; 弓始式 (bow as in bow and arrow, start, ceremony). Anyways, name aside it was a curious little ceremony where the Shinto priests dressed all in white and shot arrows at a target in this year’s lucky direction. I assume that the lucky direction is determined in some ancient book of Chinese mysticism, or some other such almanac.

Apparently the ceremony is supposed to insure good crops for the year. They also cooked a fish over a little fire. I am not sure if that was part of the ceremony or if one of the old men in attendance just had a fish that needed cooking. Anyways, I got some nice photos of the bow and arrow shooting so I thought I would post them.

（日本語版がちょっと遅れますので、すみません。）

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せいか祭り２００７ The 2007 Seika Festival

去年と同じように僕と同僚のクリスさんがせいかグローバルネットのブースでせいか祭りを過ごしました。ニコニコ笑顔で子どもたちとふれあったり、風船を渡したり、していたので、とても楽しかったです。せいかグローバルネットの４人のメンバーとクリスが１２月に精華町の姉妹都市ノーマン市に訪問するので、子どもたちがノーマン市の人々への一言メッセジーを書いてもらいました。

This year my coworker Chris and I spent the day of the Seika Festival helping out at the Seika Global Network booth. It was fun because we got to interact with the kids and give out balloons. In December, four members of the Seika Global Network and Chris are going to be taking a trip to Seika’s sister city of Norman, Oklahoma, so at the festival we asked the kids of Seika to write short messages which would be presented to the people of Norman.

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そして、去年雨のせいで中止になったパレードが今年予定どおりに行いました。僕らもせいかグローバルネットのパレード団体と一緒に参加しました。ショッキングピンクの布に飾られたり、多彩な風船を運んだり、Bee Geesの”Dancing Queen”という曲が流れながら行進しました。その姿はちょっと恥かしかったが、皆さんのあたたかい挨拶のおかげで、結局面白かったです。

Last year due to the rain the parade was unfortunately canceled, but this year it was carried out on schedule. So we were able to join in the Seika Global Network’s parade troupe this year. It was a little embarrassing to be draped in flowing robes of shocking pink, carrying colorful balloons while they blared the Bee Gees “Dancing Queen” out of a loud speaker, but thanks to the warm greetings of all the people watching it turned out to be an interesting experience.
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夢のように A Dream Come True

たくさんの日本人とアメリカ人の男子の夢は野球選手になるということでしょうね。僕もその夢がありましたが、中学校の頃に野球を辞めました。僕はアメリカで少年野球やっていたが、その頃からあまり野球していません。今年は友達との草野球チームに入りました。平均月一・ニ回週末に試合しています。あまり上手じゃないですが、プレイするだけで楽しいことだと思います。

Many Japanese and American boys dream of being baseball players when they grow up. I had the same dream when I was younger, but I quit playing when I was in middle school. I played little league baseball in America, but since then I haven’t really played at all. This year I joined an informal baseball team with some of my friends. Usually we play about one or two games a month on the weekends. I am not very good, but for me it is just fun to be out there playing.

それで、うちのチームが年一回大阪京セラドームを借りて、試合します。今年の１１月末に僕が初めて参加しました。プロ野球スタジアムで試合するのは二時間僕の少年の夢が現実になったようなことでした。スタジアムに入ったら感動しました。または、試合には僕がファーストを守っていたので、やりながら「このスタジアムでこの位置は阪神のシーツ選手と一緒やなぁ」と思い込んでいました。そして、安打一本できて、二塁を盗塁したから嬉しかったです。僕は野球そんなに上手じゃないし、今は年取りすぎて、プロ野球選手の夢がもう散てしまいましたが、二時間だけで夢を試すのは気持ちよかったです。

Once a year my team rents out the Kyocera Dome, a professional baseball stadium in Osaka, to play a game. This year at the end of November I played there for the first time. To be able to play in a professional baseball stadium for two hours was like my childhood dream had come true. When I first walked onto the field I felt a chill down my spine. Also, in the game I was playing first base so when I stood out there I realized, “Wow, this is the same place where the Hanshin Tigers’ first baseman Andy Sheets stands!”* Then, I was able to get a nice clean hit into center field during the game and then steal second base so I was happy. I am not that good at baseball and by now I am too old to break into professional baseball anyways, so my dream of being a professional baseball player is far gone. But for two hours I was able to pretend like I was a pro baseball player and get a taste for what my dream would have been like. It felt good.

*Andy Sheets is an American who plays firstbase for the local favorite professional baseball team the Hanshin Tigers. The Tigers play some of their home games at the Osaka Dome when their primary stadium (Koshien) is being used for the National High School Baseball Championships in the summer.

サンクスギヴィングデー Thanksgiving Day

アメリカではサンクスギヴィングデー（感謝祭）という特別な行事を知っていますか？１１月の第４木曜日にあり、家族と過ごし、七面鳥などを食べる祝日です。今年僕は日本にいるので、この日は家族と過ごすことができなくて寂しいです。でも、偶然に東京に出張された間に素晴らしいサンクスギヴィングディナーを食べられました。

As I am living in Japan this year I was sad that I wasn’t able to spend Thanksgiving Day with my whole family. But luckily I was able to eat a wonderful Thanksgiving Day dinner in Tokyo while I was there for a work trip.

東京都にある米軍隊に限定されるThe New Sanno Hotelでは大きなサンクスギヴィングデー・バイキングがあります。このホテルはとても大きくて、きれいですが、非常に珍しいところです。米軍隊か米軍隊の家族じゃなかったら、そこに泊まることが禁止されています。バイキングでも米軍隊か米軍隊の家族と一緒に行かないなら入られません。アメリカ人の僕でも普通に入られませんよ。

In Tokyo there is a hotel called The New Sanno which is specifically reserved for American military and their families which holds a huge Thanksgiving Day buffet every year. The hotel is big and luxurious, but it is such an oddity in Japan. If you are not a US military service member or a card carrying family member of one you are not allowed to stay in the hotel. Even as an American I cannot go into the hotel by myself. For the buffet dinner you must be invited and accompanied by a US military service member or a card carrying family member of one.



そして、「バイキングはどうだったの？」と聞きたいでしょう。本当に最高でしたよ！米軍隊のホテルだから、食べ物は完璧に伝統的な味でした。または、何でもありました。僕はいっぱい食べて、満腹になったのに、「まだ全部味わってないから、もっと食べたいなぁ！」と思っていました。サンクスギヴィングデーは家族と一緒に過ごせなくて、残念ですが、美味しくて、懐かしいアメリカ料理を食べられて十分嬉しかったですよ！

So you are probably wondering how was the food right? It was truly the best! It’s an American military hotel so the food is really traditional. What’s more they had just about anything you could have wished for. I ate so much and was so full but I still thought, “I want to eat more, I still haven’t tried everything.” It was a shame that I couldn’t spend Thanksgiving Day with the whole family, but I was plenty happy to be able to eat real American food.

Old MacDonald マクドナルド祖父ちゃん

This week I went to one of the local elementary schools where I was asked to talk to the kids about American nursery rhymes and songs. Since its been affirmed by almost all of my friends that I have a terrible singing voice I made the easy choice to just bring a CD of children’s songs with me. I was able to find a great website that has free downloads of most of the traditional songs I used to sing as a child (www.freekidsmusic.com). I went around to all of the four 4th grade classes at the school and I played songs like; Wheels on the Bus, If You’re Happy and You Know It, and Old MacDonald, etc. They have a Japanese version of If You’re Happy and You Know It so the kids were already familiar with that one. They liked Wheels on the Bus because I had them act out all of the actions that are sung about in the song. But the funniest thing was when I played Old MacDonald. I explained that it was a song about a farmer with lots of animals. Most Japanese kids are also familiar with this song too but the only part that they actually know the words is the ‘ee I eei oh’ part from “Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee i ee i oh!” That’s because it sounds almost exactly like saying, “iya iya yo” in Japanese, which basically translates as “that’s disgusting!” Like if you were disgusted with something someone said and you wanted to completely deny it by saying “that’s disgusting!” So when we were singing the song the kids got really into that one part of the song and a few kids started squeezing their noses with one hand while waving the other and singing “iya iya yo.” When I asked them what was so offensive they said that they were saying “that’s disgusting!” because it was so stinky from all of the animals. I thought it was so funny and I was totally cracking up every time we sang it and all 30 of the kids starting holding their noses and waving their hands while singing “that’s disgusting!” Ah, the surprises of cross cultural exchange!

Also, Old MacDonald turned out to be a good little English lesson because of all the animal noises. In Japanese the onomatopoeia for animals is totally from what we use in American English. For instance in Japanese; cows don’t ‘muu’ they ‘moo’ (pronounced like mow in mowing the lawn), and dogs don’t go ‘arrff-arrff’ they “wan-wan”. They thought it was crazy that American pigs sound like ‘oink-oink’ because Japanese pigs sound like ‘bu-bu’. All in all it was really a really funny day and pretty productive as far as international exchange goes.

今週、僕が地域小学校で子供達にアメリカの童謡を教えることになりました。僕は下手糞な歌手ということが殆どの友達に確認されたので、童謡のCDを持って行くことにしました。あるインターネットサイトでたくさんの懐かしい童謡を無料にダウンロードできました(www.freekidsmusic.com)。小学校四年生の４つの教室に回って、色んな曲（Wheels on the Bus, If You’re Happy and You Know It, Old MacDonald等）を聞かせました。If You’re Happy and You Know Itという曲が日本語では「しあわせなら」があるので、子供達もう知っていました。そして、Wheels on the Busはバスのアクションと乗客の運動の真似をさせたので、子供は好きでした。でも、Old MacDonaldを聞かせるのが一番面白かったです。音楽を流す前にマクドナルド祖父ちゃんがたくさんの動物を持っている農業者の話を説明しました。日本人もこの曲が知っているらしいが、歌詞は一つの部分しか知らなかったです。それは“Old MacDonald had a farm, Ee i ee i oh!”の中の“Ee i ee i oh!”です。なぜなら“Ee i ee i oh!”と日本語で言うと「いやいやよ」と聞こえます。この歌詞だけですごく盛り上がり、一緒に歌いながら、２，３人が手で鼻を詰めて、他の手を振っていました。僕が「何がいやだの？」と聞いたときに、子供が「いっぱい動物がいるから臭くて、いやいやよ！」　それは非常に面白くて、３０人の生徒が手で鼻を詰めて、他の手を振って、「いやいやよ」を歌っている姿を見たら大笑いしていました。国際交流が面白いなと思っていました。

そして、Old MacDonaldという曲が動物の鳴き声があるので、いい英語の勉強になりました。アメリカの英語と日本語の動物の鳴き声の擬声語が違います。例えば、牛が日本語で「モウ」だけど、英語で「ムウ」で、犬は「ワンワン」じゃなくて、「アルフアルフ」を鳴きます。豚の鳴き声が英語で「オインクオインク」と教えたときに子供達が「ありえない」と言っていました。結局面白い一日で、かなりいい国際交流ができました。

２００７年度精華町こども祭り 2007 Seika Town Children’s Festival

１０月２０日（土）毎年行っているこども祭りがむくのきセンターでありました。子供のためのイベントで、色々な楽しみがありました。保育所・小学校・中学校の音楽団体がそれぞれ開会式で発表したし、料理教室やブーメラン作りなどがあったし、精華町の子供はすごく楽しい一日を過ごせました。僕はせいかグロバールネットと一緒にスタッフとして参加しました。外国の習慣と遊びを体験させたかったからハロウィーン・マスク（仮面）の製作と”Pin the Tail on the Donkey” （ロバに尻尾をつけよう！）というゲームなどをしました。仮面作りが一番人気な行動で、子供達はすごく面白い仮面が出来ました。今年僕はこども祭り二回目で、去年から殆どの小学校に行っているから、子供達が僕のことを知っているので、挨拶しにきてくれて、楽しかったです。

On Saturday October 20th the annual Seika Town Children’s Festival was held at Mukunoki Center. The event is for children so there was lots of fun activities. Musical groups from local nursery schools, elementary and junior high schools performed at the opening ceremony, there was a cooking class, boomerang making and other activities so the children had a really fun day. I also participated as a staff member with the Seika Global Network. We wanted to show the kids foreign customs and games so we set up a corner where the kids could make Halloween masks and play ‘pin the tail on the donkey’. The mask making was the most popular and the kids made some really great masks. This was the second year that I helped out at the Children’s Festival and since I have been going to the elementary schools in town it was more fun this year because I knew a lot of the kids and they all came and said hi to me.

楽農体験ツアー （稲刈り） Agricultural Experience Tour (Rice Harvesting)

平成１９年６月９日（土）に僕が初めて参加した「楽農体験ツアー」の話をこのブログに載せました。その時は精華町乾谷区内水田ほ場で田植えを活動しました。農業体験のない僕はかなり興味深くて裸足で田んぼに入って、昔のように手で田植えしてみました。そして、先週末その同じ田んぼに収穫しに行きました。山田荘地域農場づくり協議会事務局及び精華町役場事業部産業振興課が主催される毎年のイベントで、今年は約４０人が参加しました。若い子からお年寄りの方も来て、楽しい経験になりました。
On June 9th, 2007 I participated in the Agricultural Experience Tour which I have written about in this blog. At that time we planted rice at the Inuidani Farm. Having never had any agricultural experience I was pretty interested in trying it out, so I jumped in the muddy field barefoot and planted rice by hand like in the old days. Then last weekend I went back to the same field to harvest the rice that I helped plant. The Agricultural Experience Tour is organized by the Yamadasho Regional Agriculture Association and the Seika Town Industry Promotion Division and is held every year. This year there were about 40 participants ranging from young children to senior citizens. It was a fun experience for everyone.

今回も昔のように手で稲刈りをしました。以外としんどかったです。稲刈りしてから、コンバインに入れて、米が自動に袋に集まっていきました。終わった時に収穫出来た量にびっくりしました。その面積の田んぼで最もいっぱいとれると思いました。約９つの３０キログラムの袋が収穫できました。大体４人の家族の一年分と聞きました。そして、稲刈りをしながら木村町長が偶然にいらっしゃって頂いて、素敵なスーツの格好で思い切って田んぼに入って、皆さんと握手なさいました。
This time we harvest the rice by hand like they did in the old days. It was much more tiring than I would have thought. After cutting the rice plants by hand we fed the plants into a combine machine and the rice grains were automatically separated from the reeds and neatly sifted into bags. When we finished I was surprised by the amount of rice we were able to harvest. I thought that for a rice field of that size we would get a lot more rice. We ended up getting about nine 30kg bags of rice. I was told that that would be enough to fed a family of four for one year. Also while we were harvesting the rice Mayor Kimura unexpectedly showed up and daringly jumped into the muddy rice field in his nice business suit to shake hands with everyone who was working.

収穫がおわってから、乾谷ファミリに炊き込み御飯と漬物をいただきました。田んぼで苦労をしたから食べ物がとても美味しかったです。今年楽農体験ツアーに参加してよかったなと思います。来年皆さん参加いかがですか！
After we finished all the work the Inuidani Family treated us to takikomi rice (rice steamed with vegetables) and tsukemono (pickled vegetables). After laboring in the fields the food tasted really good. I am really glad that I participated in the Agricultural Experience Tour this year. Next year why don’t you join in too!

天神祭り Tenjin Festival

On Wednesday July 25th the Tenjin Festival took place in Osaka City. The summer festival is one of the biggest in Japan and there were roughly 500,000 people there for the festival. The festival takes place along the river near Sakuranomiya. There are all the usual food stalls and game booths and an hour long aerial fireworks display like many other festivals have. The thing that is unique to this festival is the parade of boats along the river. It is much like a normal parade with decorated floats, music and celebrities but this one is all on boats floating up and down the river.

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The other thing that is really cool about this festival is that lots of people wear a yukata, which is a light cotton version of the traditional kimono worn in summer time. Probably about half of the women were wearing yukata and a decent amount of men as well. The yukata have really beautiful designs and colors and makes the whole festival feel much more traditional. For this festival I even decided to wear a yukata!

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I felt a little odd being a foreigner wearing traditional Japanese clothes but it was really fun and I overheard lots of people commenting that I looked cool. The yukata is like a bath robe so its really comfortable and there are pockets in the underhand of the sleaves which are convenient for carrying things. The only problem was that I have really big feet (31cm) and the biggest geta slippers that I could find were only 28cm so my feet were hanging off the back. After walking around all night my feet were really sore by the end of the night.

I ate lots of good food and had a really good time walking around the festival in my yukata getting looks from everyone. Even though the Tenjin Festival is not all that much different from other festivals in Japan the huge number of people and the warm weather created a wonderful atmosphere and was a lot of fun.

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(From this point on I am going to start writing this blog in both English and Japanese.)

7月２５日（水）に大阪市の天神祭りがありました。天神祭りは全国でトップ３の最大祭りの中に入っています。桜ノ宮の川岸の周りに約５百万人がこの祭りに来たらしいです。祭りの食べ物やゲームや花火などがもちろんありました。でも天神祭りの特徴は船パレートです。

僕は天神祭りの好きなことは沢山の人々がゆかたを着ます。約女の人の半分がゆかたを着て、男の人も少なくないです。ゆかたはきれいな色とデザインがあって、伝統的な感じがします。今回ぼくもゆかたを着ました！

外国人としてゆかたを着るのがちょっと恥かしかったが、「かっこいいな」という声を聞こえました。ゆかたは涼しくて楽ですが、一つの問題がありました。僕は足が３１cmで一番大きなげたが２８cmですから、足は出ていました。ずっと歩いていたので、おわりに足が痛くなりました。

色々な食べ物を食べたり、ゆかたの姿で皆に見られたり、するのが本当に楽しかったです。他の祭りとあまり違わないが、大勢な人々と温かい温度が素晴らしい雰囲気で面白い祭りだと思います。