Summer Festival Season (2017)

With summer comes the humidity and stifling heat, but also a handful of summer festivals. The photos pretty much speak for themselves, so here they are.

Naze Hanabi Taikai, August 10, 2017

Fireworks in the Naze port.
Our friend Seido found us a nice spot to eat and watch the show.

Kasarinchu, a famous local band from northern Amami, played at the festival!

Me with the new ALTs and our Japanese friends.

 Kasari Matsuri, August 13, 2017

Grilled squid - one of my favorite matsuri snacks.
I waited in line for a half hour, but it was totally worth it.

Koniya Minato Matsuri, August 19, 2017

My friend Minori (right) singing shimauta the night before.
After her performance we went off and bought lots of food.

Saturday afternoon was the Minato Matsuri parade.
I didn't dance in it this year, opting to watch the procession instead.

My students! (They said it was ok to post this photo)

The Koniya High School truck. It carries tea and water for the students.

The city hall's display.
Nathaniel helped hoist this thing with the rest of the city hall staff.

Koniya at night, after the parade, lit by festival lanterns.

2017 Amami Sea Kayak Marathon weekend

The Annual Amami Sea Kayak Marathon in Kakeroma was the first weekend of July. While I didn't participate in the race itself because of conflicting responsibilities with the Orchestra, I went to cheer on my friends who entered and to enjoy the post-race festival. But before all that, on Saturday July 1 the Amami ALTs spent the day exploring Kakeroma.

We met Mr. Daisuke through a mutual friend, and he took us around the island to see the main sights. We were also joined by Micah, a former ALT on Tokunoshima, who came back to visit and participate in the marathon.

A perfect view of Oshima strait from a Kakeroma mountaintop.

Our ALT group posing by the pier. Photo by Daisuke-san.
From L-R: Jacob, Micah, Megan, Ching, Maranda

Daisuke-san also took us to an old, famous tree: the Takena Gajumaru.

A wooden sign featuring Totoro helpfully points the way.

Our group next to the Gajumaru tree. Photo by Mr. Daisuke.

After our sightseeing tour, Mr. Daisuke dropped us off at one of Kakeroma's many beaches, where we had lunch (prepared by the old lady who oversees the only shop) and spent the day snorkeling and swimming. On the ferry back to Koniya we even spotted a sea turtle!

Sunday arrived, and we made our way down to the port where the kayaks were waiting (all racers had to register on Saturday morning). The race teams featuring ALTs were as follows: Nat and his girlfriend Ai, Ching and Micah, and Megan and her friend Mao.

The kayaks are in the water and the participants are ready to head to the starting line!

The start of the race is signaled by a lively taiko team of kids.

At this point I left for orchestra rehearsal in Naze, and came back late afternoon to a post-marathon festival, complete with food stands selling yakisoba and kakigori among other foods, and a stage.

High school students performed hula. 

A sumo monomane (comedy impersonation) performer dancing with two volunteers

Amami Shima-uta (traditional island song), accompanied by shamisen.

Amami-born shimauta-sha and pop singer Hajime Chitose gave a concert!

Goodbyes and Hellos - Graduation and Staff changes

In Japan, public servants such as teachers and police officers rotate workplaces every few years within the prefecture. April is a time for new beginnings, but it also means saying goodbye to graduating students and co-workers you've gotten to know as they move on to their next assignment.

The banner reads: Kagoshima prefecture, Koniya Senior High School.
GRADUATION CEREMONY. Left: a student is waiting her turn to receive
her graduation certificate. Center: a male teacher hands each certificate to
the principal, who in turn hands it to the student with a bow. Photo taken by
school staff and used here with permission.

The first goodbye was to the 3rd-year students, whose graduation ceremony was held on March 1st. Some were going to college, and others were starting work. Either way, I'll miss seeing them around the school.  Unlike western graduation ceremonies, which are loud and celebratory, Japanese graduation ceremonies are more serious and solemn in tone.

The students are led into the gym (which was set-up the day prior by the 1st and 2nd-year students) by their homeroom teachers, walking slowly while the wind ensemble club played. Everyone was dressed in their best suit except for the (female) homeroom teacher of class 2, K-sensei, who wore hakama, a traditional pleated skirt, which, outside of martial arts practice is really only associated with graduation. Unlike graduation in the west, which is attended only by the graduates and their parents, 1st and 2nd-year students are required to attend as well.

After a speech by the principal, each of the graduates is called by name to the stage. There is a lot of bowing, first to the special guests (education officials, local government, etc.), then to the seated vice principal and school staff before climbing the steps to face the watching students and parents. The certificate is bestowed (with a bow), and the student returns to his or her seat by running the same procedure in reverse.

Following the certificate portion of the ceremony, various school officials came up to the stage to give speeches. A 3rd-year student representative gave a speech on behalf of the graduates to their kouhai (junior students), and a 2nd-year student representative gave a speech on behalf of the 1st and 2nd-years to their sempai graduates. One more rousing rendition of the school song by all, and the ceremony was over.

The graduates are officially done with High School, but their kouhai aren't! Classes continue until the end of the month.

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The soubetsukai programme.

At the soubetsukai. So much food!

On March 24, the school year officially concluded with the closing and farewell ceremonies. This year, six staff members finished their contracts with Koniya High School: the principal (60 years old a
nd thus retiring), the office manager, three teachers, and an office staff member. Among the three teachers was my supervisor, F-sensei, who I had a good working relationship with, so I was sad to find out she was leaving after only one year. Some of the recent graduates returned to see them off, and it was a bit strange seeing them at school in their street clothes, and for the girls, wearing makeup. (High school students are not allowed makeup at school.) After the ceremony was over, some students presented the staff with flowers before saying goodbye with tears in their eyes.

The same evening, the last big work party of the school year, called soubetsukai, was held at Ajizono restaurant. A special table was set aside for the guests of honor - the six leaving staff members. Also in attendance were the PTA president and some other important non-staff members of the school.
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Saying goodbye to M-sensei from Koniya port.
Look at those streamers!

Saying goodbye to our two departing office staff members.
The wind was blowing all the streamers from different groups
together so you could no longer tell whose were whose!

The soubetsukai was not the final goodbye, as teachers still needed to move out of their desks and make travel arrangements. First to leave from the Koniya port for his new assignment on the Kagoshima mainland was Mr. M-sensei, As the ship was readying for departure, those who came to see him off held onto one roll of streamers. M-sensei held the other end. As the ship pulled away from the dock, the shouted farewells were drowned out by the horn, the streamers unrolled in our hands before finally running out, and we waved until the ship was out of sight. Even though I didn't know M-sensei all that well, it was a really emotional send-off.

Next was the Principal, who was going back to his home on the Kagoshima mainland. We said goodbye in front of the school before he and his wife drove off to the airport.

The two office staff were leaving together from Naze port on the same ship to Kagoshima, and my supervisor on a different ship to Tokunoshima the next morning, so a contingent of staff members carpooled up to say goodbye. Unlike the farewell from Koniya port, many other schools were bidding farewell to their staff members, so the shipside streamer ritual was sight to behold. I wish all of the staff members well as they transition to their new assignments.

Farewell banner for one of the office staff  (name redacted
for privacy). Poster botton row reads "Thank you! Koniya High
School" in the local island dialect.

Farewell banner for my supervisor, F-sensei (name redacted
for privacy). The middle rows says "Thank you very much!"

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Of course, with old staff leaving comes new staff arriving! This year, five people joined the Koniya HS staff. One female teacher had previously taught here 6 years prior, but everyone else was new to the islands. We had a kangeikai, or welcome party, for them at the same restaurant the goodbye party was held, so the two events were like mirrors of one another. A good time was had by all, and I look forward to working with everyone this upcoming school year.

Koniya meets Kakeroma

On Friday February 3rd, the students and staff of Koniya HS traveled to Kakeroma island, located to the south across Oshima strait, and is technically part of Setouchi, the town whose main hub is Koniya.

The students spent the day either walking or running an 11.5 km course along the Kakeroma coast and back while the teachers and staff waited to meet them at checkpoints along the way. This was my first time on Kakeroma and luckily, the weather was perfect!

Because the Kakeroma ferry was undergoing repairs due to bad weather a few weeks prior, students were split by class to board several smaller sea taxis. We left early in the morning, at around 8 am.

View of Kakeroma from the water. It takes about 20 minutes to get across.

Looking back at Koniya from about halfway across. Hello from the other siiiiidde~ ♫

We're nearing the port on the Kakeroma side. There are a few rocky outcroppings that looked as if you'd find a treasure chest on them if this were a Zelda game.

At 9 am, the run/walk started. I along with a few other teachers decided to go with the students, for a little while at least. The sun was at the perfect angle to get this great shot of a pier looking out into the strait. All it needs is a green light on the other side to complete the Gatsby look. Not a cloud in sight.

On the course, we came across this strange . . . residence? Camp? I don't know what it is. The sign reads "Barefoot Base Camp" in English.

Passing by one of many beaches. The water is crystal clear.

I only ended up going about 6 km into the 11.5 km course before turning around, for a total of about 12 km walked. I took this photo on the way back. If I weren't expected to show up back at the starting point dry, I would have liked to hop in and go for a swim. The temperature was in the low 20s (Celcius) around noon . . . in the beginning of February. Feels like spring already.

The fastest male student completed all 23 km (11.5 km out and back) in a whopping 1 hour and 36 minutes, and the fastest female student did it in 2 hours and 8 minutes. Fantastic performance all around! Hopefully next year I'll do the whole thing with them!

Minato Matsuri - Koniya's local festival

On Friday, August 19 I had just finished cooking dinner when I heard the unmistakable sound of Shima Uta, traditional island songs, emanating from the nearby park. I ate as quickly as I could and headed over, where I found a stage, several stands of matsuri food, and the source of the music.

A shima uta performance, featuring a singer (main singer in the middle and a second singer on the left) and a shamisen player (seated, right). 

The final performance of the night was an island dance, similar to the ones we participated in during the Amami matsuri. 

The next morning I headed down to the park by Umi no Eki, where a sumo tournament was being held for boys representing their schools from all around Setouchi to compete against each other. A sumo ring is a raised, square-shaped mound of dirt on which a round rope ring is secured. Sumo rings often have a wooden roof-like structure built above them. Judges in white are stationed on all four sides of the mound, and from time to time toss some salt to ritually purify the ring. Nathaniel, Setouchi's ALT was roped into competing as well...

Nat (right) lost both bouts, but fought admirably.

First up were the middle schoolers. Two wrestlers entered the ring from opposite sides (referred to as "east" and "west") and got ready on their marks. They would then both stand down before getting ready again, and at this point the bout was on. The loser is the first wrestler to touch any part of his body other than the soles of his feet to the ground, or to step out of the rope ring. When a winner is determined, the loser steps off, and the winner crouches by the ringside, waits for the judges to point in his direction, before stepping off himself. Matches are quick, often as fast as 15 seconds.

Next were the high schoolers (and Nat). Nat got a special round of applause for his bravery (wearing nothing but a sumo mawashi takes guts) acknowledging his participation as a foreigner in Japan's national sport.

In the afternoon, the Minato Matsuri parade was held. Various local groups dressed in matching outfits and performed a dance around the two main streets of Koniya. I ran into the Koniya High School group, comprised of both students and teachers, who asked me to join them! I didn't know the dance, so a few of the students taught me quickly before the parade started.

It took a full 2 hours to make one full loop, but in true Japanese fashion, a water/snack/beer break was announced every 30 minutes over the same city-wide PA loudspeaker system that played the music we danced to. To give an idea of just how slowly we were moving, it takes maybe 20 minutes to walk the loop at a normal pace. Those water breaks were a welcome relief under the hot sun.

After the parade I ran into a friend and some former ALTs who were back on Amami for vacation, so we went to a nearby sushi place for dinner. Then, it was off to the park from yesterday for more singing and festival food! Nat got swarmed with his students, and I stuffed my face with kakigori and the freshest yakitori I've ever had.

We both had to call an early night, as he was to participate in the next day's boat race while I had to leave early in the morning to fly to Kagoshima for a business trip.

Week 2: Alone in the office

Monday: Until 8/17, I only have to go to school between 10 am and 3 pm since it’s currently summer vacation. There are no students except those who show up for soccer, baseball, etc. practice. I spent the day working with my supervisor to book tickets for my first business trip to Kagoshima City. New and returning prefectural ALTs go to the prefectural office once a year for a contract signing ceremony held towards the end of August. New ALTs also attend a Japanese language and culture training camp.

Travel is done through the town’s travel agency, located inside Umi no Eki (seaside station). Also located inside are a few snack stands where you can buy food goodies unique to Setouchi: among the offerings are seaweed, brown sugar candy, mango sauce, and pickled papayas. The station has a small restaurant and stand that sells sashimi, but they were closed today.

Before heading out to the travel agency, the landlord of my apartment came to school to collect my deposit, key money, and rent for the last few days of July. "Key money" is a strange thing that Japan does, where new tenants give a gift of money to the landlord upon moving in.

Today was Nat’s birthday, so we had a birthday party with the Eikaiwa (English conversation) members to celebrate. Some Koniya HS students came and made him a Pokemon cake, and another member made a giant hamburger that was easily 6” in diameter!

Tuesday: After work today (which consisted of me studying Japanese), Nat showed me a ramen place not far from my apartment, where I ate the most delicious chashu ramen I’ve ever had. We went to the convenience store for ice cream and ate it by Umi no Eki, near the only Pokestop and pokemon gym in Koniya. Pokemon GO is quite big in Japan, but less so in Koniya since there are few people and only a small town in which to play.

We then went to a real-life gym to play badminton. Nat knows all of the regulars, and among them are middle school and high school students, and some other Koniya citizens. There was no AC inside, and combined with the 30°C heat and unrelenting humidity, you’re literally dripping with sweat after about 10 minutes of light playing. The sweat towel is your best friend, but as soon as you wipe some away, more appears, so you could call it a futile exercise. I ran out of water after about an hour, so I went home first.

I’ve been taking cold showers ever since I arrived in Koniya, but they never felt as good as the one I took tonight.

Wednesday: Most of the teachers are on summer vacation, so for the better part of the day I was alone in the teachers’ room studying Japanese. At 3 pm, I went up to the music room (across the school and on the fourth floor – getting up there is quite a bit of exercise) to practice cello. Yesterday I obtained permission from H-sensei, the music teacher, to use the room after school so I could prepare my part for Amami Orchestra’s upcoming performance of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (mvmts 3 and 4) in December. The cello I’ve generously been allowed to use is a well-set-up beginner’s cello, so it’s not nearly as responsive as the instruments I have owned in the past, especially in the upper reaches of the A string, fourth position and above. Even so, it’s decent and will serve me well during my time on Amami.

I went out to the town’s only Pokestop to restock on my virtual pokemon-catching supplies and while I was there I met a few other people playing. They were also young adults who landed a job in town. Together we marveled at the level 20 player controlling the gym (the game’s only been out for 1 week in Japan!) One girl knew a bit of English and could help me out when I didn’t understand a question directed at me, but I managed to get through an extremely simple conversation with the help of gestures and google translate. (Baby steps…!)

Next post(s): Amami summer festival!!

Day 4-6: First few days on Amami Oshima

After breakfast, the new Kagoshima JETs and three representatives from the Kagoshima BoE met dressed in suits at 7:10. It hit a few of these others that we were actually in Japan getting shipped out to their final destinations. The bus left at 7:50 for Haneda airport. When we stepped outside, we were once again expecting an awful wall of humidity, but surprisingly, the weather was a brisk 27°C with a light breeze. We arrived in Haneda at 8:40 and checked in. I was the only person who wasn’t meeting their supervisor at Kagoshima airport or the Kagoshima BoE, so with some assistance, I took a connecting flight on my own to Amami Oshima.

The plane itself was a tiny commuter plane that wasn’t big enough to be boarded via the usual gate tunnel. Instead, everyone got on a bus, which drove maybe 500 feet before dropping us off at the plane door. At the baggage claim, one of the differences between America and Japan presented itself: because Amami airport is so small, the bags are hand-loaded onto the belt. Every single bag was placed so the handle(s) faced the outside, and was easy for the guests to grab. This detailed attention to customer convenience would be unheard of in the States.

After picking up my bag, the three English teachers of Koniya HS, F-sensei, K-sensei, and Ko-sensei, were waiting for me with a lovely handmade sign. I did my first aisatsu (greeting), accompanied with a lot of bowing, and was immediately told to take off my suit jacket, which I took as a sign of the more relaxed island life. We loaded my bags into Ko-sensei’s car and drove to a large (about the size of a small Walmart) supermarket called Big II, where I bought curtains for my apartment, shampoo, soap, dishwashing soap, laundry detergent, toilet paper, and other essentials, as well as food for dinner and breakfast (¥11,799). Afterwards, we said goodbye to F-sensei who lives in Naze, and K-sensei, Ko-sensei, and I drove to Koniya to set up my apartment and meet the principal.

We left school to go buy some forgotten necessities (cooking oil, seasoning, etc.) and set up my apartment. Before I arrived, some students and teachers helped move the large items into my apartment, so I was spared the heavy lifting. I’m very grateful to them! I spent the rest of the day setting up my new place with the help of Ko-sensei and Fs-san, who also works at Koniya HS and lives two floors above me.

Most Japanese people don’t have full beds and instead use a thin floor mattress called a futon, which is usually laid on tatami, or bamboo mats. My apartment doesn’t have tatami, so I improvised by laying the futon on top of a fold-down floor couch left to me by my predecessor. The futon folds away during the day, so it’s an economic use of space.

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The next day, F-sensei helped me register my address at city hall (pictured), open a bank account, and get a cell phone. After school, Nathaniel (Nat), the other Koniya ALT, came over to see the apartment and chat before giving me a tour of Koniya. Before we left, I met FJ-san, a gentleman who lives in Koniya and is also a violinist in the Amami orchestra. He has generously agreed to give me a ride to Naze (an area of Amami city in the north) to have lunch with the orchestra. The drive takes an hour, so he’ll pick me up tomorrow at 10:30 for lunch at 11:30.

 It was a little strange to wrap my head around the fact that the only two foreigners in Amami were chatting it up in English in the street. But we stopped by various shops, and Nat pointed out good eateries, hotels, karaoke places, snack bars (read: bar), local landmarks like a giant bluefin tuna statue, and other important places like the bank, post office, and city hall. We ran into a few of Koniya HS’s students playing Pokemon Go near the only gym and Pokestop in town. For dinner, we went to Kamitaka, a sit-on-the-floor style restaurant. He had tonkatsu teishoku (a meal set) and I had a chicken nanba teishoku.

Though we didn’t drink, Nat told me that this restaurant has a particular service: guests who order a bottle of shochu (liquor distilled from a variety of sources, including wheat, potatoes, brown cane sugar, etc.) but don’t finish it can have the restaurant keep it for next time they visit. Each of the bottles is numbered and labeled with a name so they know which bottle belongs to whom!

It was dark when we made our way back, and apparently folks on Amami don’t walk on the sidewalk if there are trees or grass, since habu (poisonous snakes found on some islands) might be hiding in them! We also saw a few cockroaches scuttling in our path. You can also hear a surprisingly loud symphony of bug chips, which at first I thought was machinery. Nat walked me to city hall, from which I tried finding my way back to my apartment and was successful in doing so.












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Note: To protect the privacy of the students and teachers of Koniya HS, I will not include many photos of the day-to-day workings of the school.

The next day (7/29) was a special day at Koniya HS: the junior high students visited for a special “trial day,” where they could tour the school and take some sample classes. I haven’t started teaching yet, but I still had to be at school, and upon arriving I greeted everyone my first loud “Ohayo gozaimasu!” I spent the day working on my self-introduction class, which will mark the beginning of my teaching duties, to begin in September. The atmosphere in the teachers’ room was very relaxed, because there wasn’t too much to do.

The structure of Japanese schools is very different from American schools. Instead of students moving between classes, students (for the most part) stay in one room while the teachers move around. Thus, when students need to see a particular teacher, they don’t visit the teacher’s classroom like they do in the US, but instead stand at the entrance of the teachers’ room and ask permission to enter from the teacher they wish to see. Right before lunch, there is a time set aside for cleaning the school. Everyone from the students to the teachers to even the vice principal helps out.

K-sensei was to teach a sample English class to the visiting JHS students, so I asked permission to sit in and watch. The topic was “Rules of English,” which covered L vs R, B and P pronunciation, and grammar differences between English and Japanese.

My working day ends at 4, so I met up with Nat who showed me around Setouchi, beyond Koniya. We drove through Seisui, Katetsu, Yadorihama (a nice swimming/beach spot), Honohoshi (a non-swimming beach with rocks - pictured), and Agina.

We went to Banmeshiya for dinner, which is owned and run by a single gentleman who by day is a turtle researcher, and by night is an amazing cook. Everything we ate was made from scratch by him: rice and miso soup accompanied garlic chicken and Fuu champloo. He speaks Japanese, English, and a little Spanish. Some of Nat’s friends also showed up, and we started talking about Pokemon Go and how pokemon have different names in the US. Nat taught me some Shimaguchi (island dialect): “thank you” is arigasamaryota, and if you mess up, you say “age!” (ah-GEHHHHhhhh!).

After dinner we wanted to explore town some more, but when we went outside, it started drizzling. According to Nat, when it drizzles on Amami, in about 2 minutes one of two things will happen: either it will stop, or it will POUR. Unfortunately our drizzle decided to choose the latter option, so we ran back to his place to grab umbrellas before heading out to Goku for my first karaoke experience! Goku is a box karaoke place, which means there are a bunch of soundproof rooms, each with a karaoke machine, mics, a portable song selector, and some benches around a table for drinks and such. It was 1500¥/hr for the two of us. We did some Disney, classic rock, Eagles, Beatles, and ended with Adele. I went home after, but Nat found a friend who wanted to sing another hour across the street at the other karaoke place, so we parted for the evening.