Usuki

In between all the crazy busy days, about which I could and should write more often, I was talked into going to Usuki City on saturday. Although maybe that sounds too negative because it was a pleasure even though I could have used a quiet day in Hirado. But there were important visitors so I needed to `work` anyway and they wanted to go to Usuki as well so it worked out nicely.

Last year we went to Usuki on a bike about which I wrote back then. Since then, exchanges between Hirado and Usuki have started to develop and so we were expected to come again on the occasion of their biggest festival: Usuki Takeyoi (Usuki Bamboo Evening). It is a festival where they decorate the old city centre with huge amounts of lanterns made out of bamboo. Over the years the creations have become more and more sophisticated and makes for a spectacular festival. The old Japanese city centre is nice in its own right but on the first weekend of November this is one of the best places to go in Japan in my opinion.

We had the honour to be guided by the mayor of Usuki again this year and met a few people from Usuki that I got to know over the course of one year. The only thing I will do different again next year: Ill go by bike again!

A few pictures:

Summer memories

Some summer memories from Nishinoshima, where I visited J in July before he left for the big city lights. What a beautiful place!



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Interesting times

The past few weeks have been very interesting. What I love about my life here is that it is so full of weird and wonderful encounters. Even after 3 years I come acros new challenges, meet new people and find new things to do. In fact, there are are so many things I want to do I never have the time to carry them all out. The hardest thing these days is to find a balance between travel, sports, hobbies, work and just quiet me-time.

Since I bought my bike, I have been trying to use it at much as possible, but since the days are getting shorter, I can only really use it in the weekends as I am a bit weary about racing around in the dark. Ive had a good few tours though. On the other hand, Ive almost completely given up on Kendo. The longer I stay away, the harder it is to come back.

Travelling has taken a back seat as I have hardly had the time to take weekends off of work. Autumn is the busiest season and there are so many events on the weekends that it's hard to find a weekend without anything planned. Okunchi is the main shinto festival in Hirado and I was part of the dragon dance team again this year. They wanted me to do the head as well, and even though I only had one time to practice the head position, it was a big honour to be able to dance in front of the city hall. Only the most experienced people do it, as it is extremely heavy and demanding but somehow I managed so I was pretty stoked about that.

For work I have had lots of requests from third parties asking for my participation at events or meetings. That's always nice since it allows me to get out of the office and do different stuff than normal. One of the things I was asked to do was to translate at a small gathering in the cafe in the harbour. 5 Dutch people were in Hirado as part of a government reconcilliation programme that invites children born from Japanese/Indonesion(or Dutch) parents in the war. Their stories are full of sadness and horrible events. Yet, with them coming to Japan and coming to terms with their childhood or finding out remaining pieces of the puzzle, there is something very meaningful and optimistic about their visit. Most of these stories were told in tears and it was hard for me, as a translator, to not shed a small tear listening to their heart wrenching stories and retelling them to the audience.

Today was another surprise event. A school from England came to our town for a short exchange programme as their city has historical ties with our city. Last year there was a large accident in our city in which a local fishing boat sank, drowning 12 out of the 22 on board. The English school raised money and send it to the families with letters of support. So with their visit here, the families came to say thanks to them. I didn't know about it and I was asked to translate on the spot. The families introduced themselves and each spoke a few words about the difficulties of living without their loved ones. Everyone was crying and some could not finish their words so this time I really couldnt resist a few tears. I somehow managed to keep myself under control pretty well and translate everything but it was another draining experience and a real contrast with the dragon dance festivities of the day before.

However all big happenings were eclipsed by the great news that my brother has asked his lovely girlfriend to marry him! I am so happy for them and excited about my brother getting married! It is strange that after having so many hostfamilies I will now also have real Japanese family! They will be a great husband and wife! Congratulations!

In the coming weeks I have various trips (both work and private), an exchange programme and lots of other work coming up so it looks like the busy times will continue into December. Life is definitely not boring at the moment!

My new superbike

Golden Week

Finally having some time to update this weblog. I haven't been doing it much this year.
Quick update: In February/March things were not going so well but since April I am enjoying myself again and Ive had many people over to stay, which is always good!

For Golden Week, S. came over from Holland for a roadtrip around Kyushu. It was a great holiday, with lots of good weather and good hiking. There's too much to tell, so I'll leave that to my pictures. See below for a slideshow. There's quite a lot of pictures (about 280) so hope you will sit through it all!


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Saidaiji Naked Man Festival 2010

Last friday my weekend started with a nice relaxing evening at the new house of I-san who has spend the last year building his own house right on the seaside, next to the beach. It was already over a year ago since we had our last cheese party so it was long overdue. I took some cheese fondue and 5 other types of cheese, wine and french bread with me and together with the 3 kilos oysters from A-san and home grown veggie stew from I-san it was a rather sumptious dinner. I ended up spending the night at their place and slept like a baby.

The next morning I had to wake up quite early because I had to drive 500 kilometres to Okayama for a rather unusual festival. A good breakfast with strong coffee and a sunny morning drive along the beaches woke me up and set me in the right mood for a long but good day.

I picked up Allen at the station in Sasebo and together we drove to Okayama for the Saidaiji Naked Man Festival. It is a traditional festival held in Okayama City, this year for the 501st time. The idea is that two `lucky` wooden sticks are thrown from the temple and whoever manages to take them out of the temple will gain a year of good luck and hapiness (and a cash prize apparently). According to one theory, this happened without clothes to prevent people coming in with swords. Later people started wearing fundoshi (Japanese traditional underwear) to be a bit more decent, so the name of the festival is not quite accurate I guess.

We arrived just in time, parked the car at the hotel and got on the bus that was chartered by other people on the JET programme. After wondering around the area, checking out the temple, the food stalls and the fireworks, the first `naked` man started to appear and running around the streets, screaming `Washoi!` a Japanese yell. We bought the fundoshi, some tabi (thin footwear) and got changed. An old man put on the fundoshi on for me, which is quite an art in its own right. It was his 30th time participating. I was hoping his red swollen eye, wasnt because of past festivals. Three years ago, someone died at the festival.

First you form a line of 4 or 5 people and run around town and then the temple grounds following a specific route. You also have to run through a pond of cold water (mind you it is around freezing point) and pray at one temple building. After running around a few times people start gathering on the stage where the shingi (sticks) are thrown. At midnight (this year at 10pm) the lights go out and the sticks are thrown into the dark crowd of people. About 9000 people mosh and crush each other trying to get one of the sticks. Falling of the stairs, getting slammed against a pillar, getting trampeled or elbowed in the face are all very realistic dangers. I managed to come out unwounded and without a stick, but with a slight cold and a soar throath from the shouting!

Fortunately their are no pictures available, but to get an impression you can watch this video on youtube:

Catch my disease

After a 7 month absence I was back at Kendo practice today. The longer I put it off, the harder it was to go back, but once I back realised why I was doing it in the first place! It was really good, had some great practice matches with my teachers who welcomed me back in a very warm way.
I instantly have the kendo bug again and will definitely be back tomorrow!