Today

-As I was biking to elementary school, four little girls who were walking started running beside me saying "good morninggoodmorninggoodmorning"
-First period was canceled to have an assembly to welcome the new ichi-nenseis (first years). All of the classes cheered hello etc to them, and then the 6th graders (the oldest) gave their designated ichi-nensei a crown and then piggy-backed them out of the gym
-Upon coming back from teaching "What sports to do you play?" to the 4-2 class, I and saw a herd of ichi-nenseis, pared with a ni-nensei (2nd year) in the staffroom, doing a scavenger hunt of sorts
-I will leave for Tokyo (by shinkansen instead of night-bus this time) and spend four days in the city during golden week which isn't really a week this year so much as a slightly extended long weekend
-The sun is occasionally peeking through the clouds and a warm breeze is blowing

(The photos are unrelated)

Hanami, はなみ, Flower viewing

This branch was given to me , when Suzie and I went for a walk through "Sakurayama" (Cherry blossom mountain) just before it officially opened. A caretaker took us around, using words Suzie didn't understand and then gave us a huge branch to take home. We split it up and this is my piece, in it's blooming glory.Because my house is relatively cool, flowers last forever in the winter/early spring . I've had these mums for over 4 weeks. The spider plant was a gift from the caretaker at Awaga, and the hyacinth was an impulse buy because it smelt so good

I started ikebana class (Japanese flower arranging) and this is my first one. This is the traditional style, and the top area represents the heavens, the irises (middle) represent people, and the purple flowers (which I don't know the name of, but smell wonderful) represent animals/nature.
It's also cherry blossom time in Japan! This is on sakurayama once the trees started really going.
It smells lovely.

Why thank you!

Last night I was feeling lazy, watching a movie and relaxing on my couch when my doorbell rang! Whenever my doorbell of phone rings, I have come to assume that I will just have to say “wakarimasen, nihongo, iie, sumimasen” (I don’t understand, no Japanese, I’m sorry) and the person will give up and hang up/leave. However, last night I was pleasantly surprised to see it was the mother and son of the new family upstairs. They gave me a nice wrapped box, and introduced themselves, and I’m sure said a bunch of other things that I didn’t understand. I said, in poor Japanese, that I was Joy, and I teach at the school her son is going to (elementary). Twas all very nice. Then they left and I opened the box-- laundry detergent! Yep! the same kind I had to give my neighbours when I moved in. Maybe she was saying" I've moved into your apartment block, here's some laundry soap!" Who knows, but you've gotta love it.

Snow, Sumo, Students and Scenery

I’ve realized I haven’t included any winter shots of my town. It did snow here, and it was quite beautiful. Here are two photos from Ochidani (one of my elementary schools up a bit in the mountains). Those are kindergarten kids playing in the snow, it’s pretty adorable. The snow would usually last for 1-3 days then melt. It would snow about once a week for about a month, that was it. (hahahaha)

Also, on March 2nd I went to the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium and watched SUMO! There are 6 official Grand Sumo tournaments every year. Three in Tokyo, and one each in Osaka, Nagoya and Fukuoka. Luckily I live close to Osaka so that’s where I went. The tournaments last for 15 days and we went on the first day. Knowing only a little about sumo tournaments, we went really early and consequently, not many spectators were there, as the lower your ranking, the earlier you go on. Most people just want to watch the famous wrestlers slap and shove each other and around 3:30 things started to pick up and for the last few fights it was packed. You could feel energy in the air, and even though I know very little about sumo and even less about the specifics of certain wrestlers, I was excited. There are even a couple foreign sumo wrestlers (which surprised me) and one of them was in the top 10.

These guys are really as huge as you think they are. Some of them weigh an easy 300lbs and are usually taller than your average Japanese. Little known fact, they also smell like baby powder! While we were waiting for friends outside the gymnasium, they would walk by to get into the building, and a distinctive smell of baby powder lingered afterwards.


In Japan, they also have a different semester system than in Canada, so last week was graduation for my Junior High kids. Here is a photo of some of the graduates, in particular three of the boys who are brave enough to talk to me every now and again. I’ll miss them. This week I have my elementary graduation, so photos of that will appear in the future.

Lastly, this past weekend I stayed in my town (the first time in a while I’ve done that) and went for a hike. I recently found a mountain trail and on Saturday I walked part of the circuit. Japanese mountains are very steep, so trails are mostly a series of switch-backs up and down the mountain side.

I’m excited to have found this path as I’ve wanted to climb a mountain for a while, and I hope to do this trail more often as a reason to get outside, and also to appreciate the beautiful spring weather we are enjoying. Randomly I got a pruned branch of a cherry tree, and now it’s in my house just getting ready to bloom. April is official cherry blossom season and my town has a mountain side that has been cleared and then replanted in cherry trees, which also has a path through it. Photos will come once the blooming has properly commenced.

Happy Marketing Ploy Day!

In Japan, March 14th is "White Day", the day women get gifts from the men they gave presents to on Valentines Day (Because in Japan, Valentines Day is about giving men presents). I wikipedia-ed the reason behind this, and apparently in the 1960s a marshmallow company realized money was to be made by guilting men into buying presents for women a month later. According to Wikipedia, "sometimes the term sanbai kaeshi (三倍返し, sanbai kaeshiliterally, "thrice the return") is used to describe the generally recited rule that the return gift should be two- to three-times the cost of the Valentine's gift." I have no idea if this is really practiced, I'll ask a Japanese friend and let you know.

Many of my male JET friends received chocolate from students/fellow teachers, and have likewise felt they needed to return the favour and bought chocolates to give out today. I gave out nothing on Valentines Day, and (perhaps consequently) received nothing today. This is actually a good thing, as I gave up chocolate for lent and it would just be a terrible tease.