Mt. Fuji's Origin

Every mountain has a story.  Some are geologic, and some are of paternity tests better suited for the Maury Show. Mt. Fuji is one of the immediately recognizable icons of Japan.  We have realized we act like Japanese when we get a glimpse of the volcano, exclaiming “Fuji-san!” even though we can see the mountain on clear days from our home in Kanagawa.  The mountain has inspired such reverence that thousands of Shinto Shrines dedicated to the mountain in some way have littered the local Japanese landscape for several hundred years.  Hiking the mountain last summer we came up close and personal with the volcano, but got to hear about its origin on a bus tour last Fall.  Our good friend Jonathan was visiting us from the states, and we signed him up for a tour around the base of Mt. Fuji as a site seeing acquaintance as it was not climbing season.



We stopped at the Fuji-Sengen Shrine at the northern foot of the mountain, an important site as it is the location of the festivities surrounding the opening and closing of the two month climbing season. Apparently it is dedicated in some part (again, not sure on the translation of our tour guide) to the mother deity of Mt. Fuji.  When she was pregnant with the fetus volcano deity her husband/god-mate accused her of infidelity with a human and that he was not the father.  She became enraged at his accusations and gave birth over a pit of fire, therefore proving that a god had fathered the child since a half human infant would have died in the fire.  Thus we have Mt. Fuji, literally forged in fire.  But it makes sense, given the violent geologic events that created the volcano.  In any event we politely enjoyed the story then walked around the shrine.  Many hikers start their journey up to the summit though tori gates leading away from the shrine.  We were told that the shrine has a view of the mountain, but there was no way anyone inside the hut could see through the magnificent forest we were in.  Several large trees littered the sacred site, including two trees at least 1,000 years old that had been ringed with rice-rope found at shrines.  These trees really were amazing, and had seen Mt. Fuji grow and erupt a few times, so a shrine to his mother watching over his adolescence seemed to just make sense

How to use the bathroom in Japan

I am AMAZED that I haven’t written a blog about using the bathroom in Japan.  Where do I begin?  There is so much to share about Japanese bathrooms.  Heated toilet seats?  Yes, I’ll begin with heated toilet seats.  The definition of heated toilet seats should be AWESOME!  There is nothing quite like a heated toilet seat during the winter.  We have TWO heated toilet seats in our home, and they are fabulous.  The toilet seats alone were worth the move off base.  Although, we have them unplugged at the moment to save energy.  After the earthquake, the Economist published an article about how Japan could save energy, writing that 4% of house-hold energy use is from toilets! Four percent?!?  That was enough to encourage us to unplug our toilets.  You can read the article here: Economist Article



Of course, there is more than just the heated toilet seat.  Japanese toilets provide a great deal of luxuries, including bidets, sprays, and air dryers (all things you can experience in the comfort of our home when you come to visit!).  I don’t even want to think about how much toilets in Japan must cost.  In public restrooms, you can press a button to create a flushing noise or music if you want more privacy, though our home toilet does not give you that option.



And then there is the traditional Japanese toilet.  Imagine a hole in the ground.  That’s basically it, but with a nice porcelain exterior.  I don’t really like to use them, but occasionally, it’s all that is available.  Most bathrooms have both, as many people feel it is more sanitary to use the traditional toilets.  In most restrooms, there will be a small sign on the outside of the door telling you what type of toilet it is.  Or, if you are at a classy rest area, there will be an electronic sign telling you which toilet is available, and what kind of toilet it is.  Classy Bathroom Sign  In small towns, sometimes the only western style toilet is the handicapped one, but I will wait for it anyways.

The other thing I love about Japanese bathrooms are the signs explaining how to use the toilets.  Please enjoy these three signs.







If you are looking for a reason to come and visit us in Japan, look no further!  You need to come and experience the Japanese bathrooms.

Curry Rice! カレーライス

Coming to Japan we expected the food to be mainly raw seafood with some Chinese instant noodles.  We were a little surprised to find curry shops everywhere, as we are in Asia but very far from India.  Trying the curry, however, we discovered Japanese curry is very different from the Indian and Thai varieties… but supremely awesome.  Curry rice is a national dish and can be found everywhere you go in Japan.  You can get it over white rice, with udon noodles, and even inside baked bread.  Ordering what looked like a coconut flaked doughnut one morning we discovered it to be filled with vegetable curry! Who knew?  Not quite spicy hot, Japanese curry generally has a few vegetables in dark powder sauce, with a few traces of shredded beef sneaked in.  Being Japan, there are of course regional varieties generally seafood themed, with the wildest being whale curry from northern Japan.  The history behind curry in Japan is not that ancient, as it has been traced to English merchant ships in the late 1800s introducing a shipboard variety which was dubbed “Western Curry.” This has evolved into today’s curry available literally EVERYWHERE you go, including vending machines.  Fast food here in Japan involves real food over the greasy mess served in America.  The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force traditionally serves curry on Fridays, and we have discovered on base at the Japanese air terminal delicious curry rice with a more peppery sauce than we usually find out in town.  I could seriously eat curry rice everyday… it has been a pleasant surprise find here.  Pictured below is a delicious seafood curry with calamari and shrimp.  Come visit and taste test, nothing like it in the States!

English Camp

I found a job on Craigslist.  I know that sounds crazy, but it’s true.  I always browse Craigslist for education jobs in Japan, usually to only be depressed that we don’t live closer to central Tokyo.  But, out of the blue, a girls English Camp came up that was close to our home.  Zushi?  I could do Zushi, I thought.  So I applied.  I heard back from the company within a few days, and before I knew it, I was headed to Tokyo for an interview.  I was excited!  After the earthquake, I lost many of my teaching jobs, so I was excited for a new experience.  The interview went great, and I was hired to teach five days of intensive English for an all-girl, private, junior high school.  This was exactly the type of opportunity I had been looking for.



When the time came for camp, I found myself half asleep during morning rush hour with a huge suitcase.  Note to self: In the future, NEVER bring a huge suitcase on the train during rush hour.  The Japanese people do not look kindly on you, and I received more than my fair share of dirty looks.  In fact, on one train, I had a lady use it as a chair.  You just never know what you are going to experience here! I made it to Zushi confrontation free, though there were a few times I thought my suitcase was going to get into a fight.  I met the representative from the company, as well as the three other teachers, and we headed to the International Productivity Center (that is actually the name) to begin a long day of teaching.  The curriculum was already provided for us…we just had to teach it.  Unfortunately, the text book was an ESL book that would have been great in America, I’m sure.  But, we were teaching English as a Foreign Language, and that is a significant difference when you are choosing curriculum.  Needless to say, the book was too difficult for my girls, and I spent my evenings revising the lessons and what I would teach.



I was the only teacher who could not speak Japanese, and the only female teacher, so I thought my first day would be a little bit rough.  Other than my girls all failing the placement exams and having to scratch the curriculum, my first day was great!  I loved my class, I loved their teachers, and I loved the other English teachers.  My class had fourteen girls, ages twelve and thirteen.  Most of the girls were twelve, so they were still sweet and young.  I’m glad I didn’t have the classes of thirteen and fourteen year olds, as you could tell they were already developing attitudes, and they were not as eager to learn and study.  The twelve year olds were still very excited to learn.  I also learned that giving the girls stickers made their English skills go from pretending to not speak English to using complete sentences.  It’s amazing what stickers can do!  I will never teach without them! We played lots of games, learned lots of vocabulary, and overall, I think the girls’ English came a long way in just five days.



After my first day of teaching, I was exhausted.  I had been up since 05:00, traveled an hour and a half, taught for eight hours, and I was ready to crash.  We checked into our rooms, and it was burning up.  I played with the air-conditioning, and couldn’t get it to work.  I thought maybe they weren’t letting us control our own rooms in an effort to save energy.  Then I realized none of the lights were working.  I played with buttons and switches for about twenty minutes, and couldn’t get anything to work.  Finally, I knocked on another teacher’s door and asked for help.  Ahhh….I had to put my keys in the wall for the lights to work.  Obviously I’d never stayed in a Japanese hotel before.   A little embarrassed at my lack of being able to read and function in a country that I live in, I took a twenty minute nap before dinner.  Other fun notes about Japanese hotels: a) There is an awesome Japanese robe for you to wear.  b) There is a green tea maker instead of a coffee maker.



I woke up from my nap to eat dinner with all 80 girls and eight teachers.  One of my biggest worries had been whether I was going to like the food at camp, because it would have been a long week if I was also hungry.  But the food was great, and so was the dinner conversation.  One night, the Japanese teachers invited me to eat dinner with them, and I really enjoyed getting to know them.  I really enjoyed being around people I didn’t know for a week.  It was a nice retreat from base and our tiny community here.  I did miss James a lot, and I didn’t even get to talk to him that much.  Apparently, we have the worst cell phone service in Japan, and the service was almost nonexistent for the entire week.  But it was only a week, so I survived! ;)



The week went by very fast, and I was exhausted at the end of it. Trying to keep up with the energy of young girls took a lot out of me.  But I loved it!  I learned so much, and I discovered that I can actually teach for eight hours at a time.  I spent my day teaching, the early evening having dinner with the other teachers, and then the evening getting ready for the next day of teaching.  And since I am not a morning person, the mornings came very early for me.  Thankfully, I had a beautiful view of the ocean to wake up to and vending machine coffee to get me on my feet.  And when I walked into my classroom to a smiling group of girls, the fact that I wasn’t a morning person didn’t matter anymore.  It was such a rewarding experience, and I am very thankful to have had such an awesome opportunity.

Nothing Says Independence like Nostalgic Sitcoms

Who better than to spend the Fourth of July celebration than with the Principle of the Bayside High Tigers?  Generationally, those currently in young adult-hood grew up watching the teen sitcom “Saved by the Bell” which played a seminal role in all of our upbringings.  We learned valuable life lessons, like how to sit cool in a chair (thank you AC Slater!), talk on your brick sized cell phone in class, and especially how to save your local school duck pond from being drilled for oil.  In any case, the actor Dennis Haskins, who played Principle Belding on the sitcom, happened to be in Atsugi, Japan for the Independence Day celebration.  He was headlining a Navy Entertainment lineup of bands that must be connected to the USO somehow. I need to pay more attention at work to local events, as most of those in our group had no idea he was going to be there, and were pleasantly surprised when he walked up to our grill out and shook all of our hands.  After thanking us for our service to the country we took some group photos and off he went to another group.  He was very nice and seems to be busy these days with minor acting gigs, radio performances, and other hosting events at minor league baseball games.  Seeing him took us all back to simpler times and we “geeked” out over who could recall the most mundane piece of trivia from the show.  Seeing the Mr. Belding of our youth was more odd in that we were in Japan, celebrating American Independence with thousands of Japanese and their kids in kimonos that we had let on base… made the moment surreal.  But it helped kick start a great day of celebrations and appreciate him taking the time out to come across the Pacific for us.

Ukon no Chikara (GINGER SHOTS!)

In the US, infomercials would often advertise for the "hangover" cure.  We had been taught that there was no magic hangover cure but time, and that has proved true until we moved to Japan.  Not sure if this wonder product would pass the FDA, but there have been many nights where these "ginger shots" have been essential.  Introduced to us by another American friend, we bought them at the local 24/7 convenience store on our walk home from a night of good drinking.  Having nothing to lose we tried them, a 3 ounce "shot" that resembles 5 hour energy bottles.



Tasting like a sweet version of the red bull energy drink, they went down easily then we went to sleep.  In the morning we had no headache or stomach irritability, when we should have.  They are odd as we were functional but still had the fatigue of a hangover, so you are tired but without debilitating headaches or stomach upsetness.  Amazing! We now buy these discounted at the local grocery store, to have "just in case." Upon asking our Japanese friends what they are, they simply reply for heavy drinking and they don't know what is in them either.  There is a ginger root on the bottle, so safe to assume ginger is in them somehow... and they are sold either in the vitamin supplement section or right next to the alcohol (a subtle hint for what they are intended for?) In any case they work, and will be greatly missed when we leave Japan.  We will have to store up an emergency cache to mail to ourselves wherever we move to next! Another genius invention in Japan, come visit!

L'Orient Winery

It is no secret that I love wine.  I discovered the awesomeness of wine about five years ago, when James and I visited the Chatteau Morrisette winery in Southwest Virginia with a group of friends.  It was our first wine tour, and I was hooked.  At about the same time, I met a great friend whose family grew grapes and who now have their own winery.  (If you are ever in Southwest Virginia, Stanburn Winery is a must stop! Check them out!) She helped my love for wine grow into what it is today!  Soon after meeting Tab, I began taking wine trips with my girlfriends, and wine became a part of my life.  Since then, I have visited 40 or 50 wineries across the country, so we decided it was finally time to visit a winery in Japan.  I kept my expectations low because I didn't want to be disappointed.  We set off for L’Orient Winery in Yamanashi prefecture, part of Japan's wine country.

[flickr video=5900392945 show_info=true secret=9515eda3ca w=500 h=281]
Japanese Vinyards a video by WanderingHokies on Flickr.

The vineyards spanned as far as the eye could see, but the fields looked very different than western grapes, as the vines grow into a kind of ceiling instead of in straight lines.  I was intrigued.  Some of the vines were grown above driveways and houses!  The Japanese definitely know how to use space efficiently, that's for sure. It was amazing watching these tiny women on huge ladders tend the vines far above their heads.  It was a beautiful drive to say the least.

We were greeted at the winery by a very excited tour guide who had dedicated much of his life to Japanese wine.  To begin the tour, we walked over to a diagram of the wine making process.

Our guide began an in depth discussion on the wine process using a picture.  For a long time, I thought this was going to be our tour.  Ha! But, thankfully, it wasn't, and we did actually get a brief tour of the facility.  Much of the tour discussed the wineries use of the Koshu grape, a distinctively Japanese grape.  It's supposed to have a very fruity flavor and aroma, and pairs well with Japanese seafood.  I didn't much like it, but maybe it's an acquired taste.  After the tour, we went to my favorite part....the tasting room!

Unlike most wineries in America, we didn't taste with wine glasses.  (Very much to my disappointment...) Instead, we tasted with small plastic cups.  And rather than tasting at a bar, you walked around and poured your own tastes.  While this helps with large crowds, you miss the great interaction with the workers at the winery as they explain the wines to you, and you also don't really learn anything at all about the wines.  There were some interesting wines, including the Sakura wine (a Koshu wine) and the cherry wine (another Koshu wine).  I liked these two because they had actual cherry blossoms and cherries inside the wine bottle.  The taste was okay, but the uniqueness of the Japanese flavors encouraged us to purchase a few bottles.  There is no doubt that the Sakura wine is beautiful!  Though I'm not sure one should buy wine based on how pretty it looks inside the bottle.  It was a very unique experience, and while I didn't like their wines, I am very happy we made the trip.