A Little Taste of Kendo

Last week one of the teachers that Ryan works with invited us to practice some kendo with him. Ishikawa-sensei is awesome! He brought us the bogu (protective gear) to wear and at the end of the lesson he gave us each our own shinai (bamboo practice sword) as a present!

It was a very basic lesson. He showed us a few moves with the shinai and then we practiced striking on each other. Getting hit for the first time on the top of the head is pretty unnerving. I could see this being something I can enjoy for a long time. Haha.

Let's have a little lesson here:
(Please refer to the picture below)

• Men - head/face protector
• Men gane - metal grill over face
• Men tare - flaps/ shoulder protection
• Tsuki tare - throat protector
• Kote - hand and wrist protector
• Do - chest and torso protector
• Tare - waist, thigh and groin protector

Here is us wearing all the gear!
Ryan's do looks like a little apron on him. I have to remind him of that all the time. Haha.

There are four different places to strike someone in kendo- the head or "men," the torso or "do," the wrists or "kote," and the throat or "tsuki." When you strike you must call your target. So if I was going to hit someone on the head, I would strike and yell "men!!" It sounds pretty silly but the yell can be as unnerving as the actual blow. Hah. (Or maybe I'm just easily unnerved.)

So here's the rest of the pictures we took:

All in all it was an exciting night with Ishikawa-sensei. Ryan is looking for a kendo dojo and I am in search of a naginata dojo (it's just like kendo but instead of a sword you're striking with a spear/halberd). We're pretty positive that we've found a place to train that has everything we could want though (and some things that would be hilarious to study) so we'll keep you updated on that!

Until next time, おつかれさまでした!! (Otsukaresamadeshita = it's what we say after working out and it means "thanks for working hard!" It can also be used to say goodbye to coworkers at work I think.)

It's been a while...

I feel like there's so much to update on! However for this post, I'm going to keep it short.

First of all, we want to say "ありがとう ございました!!" to Professor Mary Diaz who sent us some goodies from America!

Yum!!! I think we finished most of them that night. I'm just saving the M&Ms for cookies.
(I hope this gives you other readers some ideas...our address is Kita 24 Jo Nishi 6 Chome, 2-15-401, Kita-ku Sapporo, Hokkaido 001-0024 Japan)

And this is where we get all our mail:

Our trusty mailbox!! Things aren't so different in Japan, eh?
I don't know if you can read it clearly on the box but I wrote my first name wrong in katakana.
A prize to whoever can comment with the correct spelling!

Also:

It's been snowing in Sapporo!!
I know that doesn't seem exciting but it is because previously it was just cold rain.
Here's some snow falling outside our apartment:

Snow means じょせつ (josetsu)!! (And josetsu is snow shoveling)
This is a picture of the snow shoveling supply room in the apartment building.

Each apartment takes turns shoveling snow-
every two days, the responsibility moves on to the next apartment.
We actually haven't had much snow accumulation. Sometimes in the morning and the evenings there's a thin layer of snow on the ground but during the day it melts.

Snow also means SKIING!!! Well, not much to report on this front- we haven't been out skiing yet. I did get my bindings placed on my skis and got a "chune up" at the shop too. Hopefully we'll be skiing this weekend.

And that's it for now- more updates soon!

I'll leave you with an image of our favorite fruit:
かき (kaki)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Since I realized today that today would be the only evening Ryan and I would be just sitting at home, I decided to make Thanksgiving dinner.

For starters we had kabocha soup (japanese pumpkin).
I forgot to add the roasted corn to this!

I made creamed onions and dressing as sides. (I almost didn't make dressing because I didn't have stale bread but lo and behold, the bakery at the supermarket had stale bread!)

Yes, that IS my rice cooker! I made dressing in a rice cooker!

For the main dish I made tofu stuffed with seasoned rice and mushroom gravy.

Here's the whole spread:

This is my well organized plate:

This is what Ryan put on his plate (his second or third plate):

And here's Ryan shoveling food into his mouth!

And for dessert I made sweet potato cakes but I'm too lazy to take pictures of those right now. Whew. It's time for sleep! I'm pretty happy with how everything turned out especially since it was basically the first time I've ever made any of these things and I mostly just made stuff up as I went along- the great Thanksgiving experiment!

I am thankful that lunch is pretty much already made for tomorrow, that Ryan is a good dishwasher, that we are safe, sound and supremely happy in Sapporo together, and that even though I am very far away from my dear family and friends, I know that I can always count on them and that they are at home in my heart always wherever I am. Oh gosh, the food is definitely getting to my head.

Have a happy thanksgiving, America! I will be here...trying to teach 3 year olds about pilgrims and indians.

Video Post: Eating Noodles in Tokyo

Hello, everyone! It is Saturday, November 21st and we woke up to a thin layering of snow today! Not the first day it's snowed though. So far, it's not sticking here in the valley of Sapporo but the surrounding mountains are looking pretty sweet in their white winter coats!

Today I bring you some videos we took while we were in Tokyo. This was our second lunch in Tokyo. We didn't go far- just stayed in Shinjuku, which is kind of a business area.

So, what you saw there was us finally choosing a noodle shop to eat at. And then we realized that the vending machine standing outside of the shop was where we placed and paid for our orders!

Yes! We ordered number 25 and number 26, brought our food tickets to the counter, and received our noodles! Now, itadakimasu!

It's just soba noodles in soba sauce...Ryan's had tofu skin on top and mine had negi (spring onions), nori and breadcrumbs (i think?!) on top. Maybe it was rice crispies. At the time this was awesome and exciting food for us...little did we know that this would become our basic meal.

More soon!

Blueberry Pre-School

Some of you may be wondering...What else does Jane do besides writing or thinking of blog posts?

Well, for that downtime between posts I have Blueberry Pre-School! A friend of ours recommended I give them a call and see if they needed another teacher and they did! So I guess I've officially switched careers (for those not in the know I was a nurse in New York).

It is an English pre-school where Japanese kids learn to play. Not kidding about that. Many of the kids come from single-child homes and have absolutely no idea how to play with other children or have never spent time away from their mothers/family. We've had two new arrivals this month and it was non-stop waterworks in the playroom. Luckily, they got over the shock pretty fast.

All of the kids speak some English, except one who doesn't even speak Japanese yet but he's 2.5 years old! Saying that these kids are out-of-this-world cute is an understatement. For instance, on my first day, they went through as much of their English song repertoire as we could get to- song selections that included classics such as the ABCs, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Bob the Builder and they even threw in the most adorable rendition of Stand by Me, complete with gestures. I couldn't even sing along with them for the entire song because I didn't know all the lyrics...but they charged on!

I guess it sounds like it's all fun and games where I work but I just want to stress that this job is no piece of cake!! Keeping the attention of up to 10 preschoolers for longer than 10 minutes is hard! And I have to do it for at least 120 minutes at a time (we have snack time and lunch so it breaks up the day). I think I've ran out of games to play and songs to sing.

Also, some kids spontaneously start crying (I swear I'm not mean). Actually the kids that cry are usually the new ones. The best part is that all the other kids will stop and try to comfort them. Aw. They are so kind!!

So that's my job! Stay tuned for more cute anecdotes!

Picture Post: Gingko Avenue, Hokkaido University

This past weekend we went to Hokkaido University to see the gingko trees all dressed in yellow. Here's some pictures:

On a search for gingko trees...everyone was taking pictures of this, so I thought I would too.

We thought this was Gingko Avenue, but it wasn't. Still yellow though.

We found a pond full of ducks. Everyone was feeding them.


Gingko Avenue!!!



This dog was wearing a Hello Kitty shirt and enjoying Gingko Avenue as much as everyone else. Cute on so many levels.

Proof we were there and not just posting pictures we found on Google.

On Halloween, we gave our neighbors little baggies of chocolates. In exchange we got these:

Sushi Lollipops- Have not tasted them yet.

Homemade pumpkin bread- Delicious!

(Also not pictured we received a sesame seed cracker from another neighbor. Yummy!)

Back in the Sapps!

So I'm back in Sapporo after a whirlwind trip to the US- there was a wedding, a birthday and...well, there was a wedding and a birthday. That's it really. Being back in Sapporo has really helped me realize some of the differences between this city and NYC. Let's have a list, shall we?

1. Food: I think the most popular question I've been asked is "How's the food?!" So it's top of my list of important difference between NYC and Sapporo/Japan. First of all, Japanese food is delicious. When we visited Hamamasu, a little seaside town, I almost cried because the seafood was so fresh. I could eat sushi and noodles and miso everyday...which is pretty much what exactly I do. EVERYTHING tastes like soy sauce. Can you see where I'm going here? Someone said that I've been spoiled growing up in NYC because I'm used to such a variety of foods. I guess they're right. Where is my pizza?! How can you get pizza wrong? I don't know. But it's wrong here. Where is my chili relleno?! We went to a Mexican place once. I got a shrimp burrito. It was delicious. But it wasn't Mexican!

Well, luckily, Sapporo does serve some really special stuff. My favorite Japanese food is currently something called soup curry. Basically it's a liquid curry served with vegetables and rice. You can adjust the spiciness on a scale of 1-5...and sometimes beyond. I usually get "san-ban" (3rd level). Wikipedia also tells me that Sapporo is the birthplace of "miso ramen." I have yet to try any ramen here actually. We once went to a ramen restaurant and our guide (my good friend Matthew- hi, Matt!) had to apologize vigorously after we realized that everything in the place had pork in it and Ryan wasn't eating pork. I hear there's some kind of theme park focused on ramen on the 10th floor of the Esta department store near Sapporo station...might have to check that out one day!

Also, there are lots of Indian food places. We live next to a really nice place called Mohan Dish. Inexpensive and delicious.

2. People: Well, you don't have to live in Japan to know this: in Sapporo, there are a lot of Japanese people and not much of anything else. Again, having grown up in NYC, I guess this should be something that causes shock to me. I don't find the homogeneity of the population that shocking. Maybe because they all look like me or because I've visited the Philippines a lot (where there are a lot of Filipinos!)...I don't know. I guess what gets me about the people here is the incredible politeness. I guess it's all the bowing and formal greeting I've been exposed to...or the random rides people give us when we're lost. People here are just nice and friendly!

I can't say that I'm not tired of being greeted every time I pass by a store worker though. And when one of them greets you, the whole lot of them echo him. I purposely avoid anyone who might work in the particular store I'm in just so I don't have to hear them all greet me. I guess that's the New Yorker in me. Whatever that means.

3. Climate: We are about 10 degrees colder than NYC right now and having some flurries!! Yesterday I saw that the mountains in the distance were powdered a bit. This morning they were back to brown though. So sad! I have heard that many of the central Hokkaido mountains are starting to get their first winter coat of snow! I can't wait to get my bindings fitted onto my skis.

Our apartment is still pretty cozy even without the heater on. Of course, we're wearing hoodies inside but c'mon it's winter! Also, I'm pretty sure I've figured out the secret to keeping trim in Japan- many women are still wearing skirts and shorts with tights underneath...they are shivering the fat off! I'm not about to test this hypothesis but I'm pretty sure it's true.

Still, I believe keeping warm is all about thinking warm and walking very fast. (Also a nice fleece layer can't hurt.)

And guess what! Ski season starts really soon- I even heard a place nearby is opening this week.

4. "Je ne sais quoi": I can't quite put my finger on it...that's why this post has been sitting unfinished on my computer for literally a week. Sapporo, despite being the 5th largest city in Japan (by population), is peaceful. I don't know what it is about it that makes it peaceful- definitely not the deafeningly loud pachinko parlors all over the place or the areas downtown that are lit up like daylight in the evening. Maybe because everyone else here just seems to be operating on a whole different level or maybe I'm just losing something in translation. Whatever the case may be, I think that the "je ne sais quoi" quality might be the biggest difference between Sapporo and New York for me (that and the wonderfully clean public bathrooms and super toilets!).

I venture to say that this peacefulness might extend to most of Japan- even Tokyo. When I arrived in Narita, after a 14 hour flight (BTW enjoyed my flight on Northwest in July more than my flight on American this past October), one of my first glimpses into the outside world was a view of a rock garden just across the street from the airport. Instant calm! Also, the 10 minutes I spent in the massage chair at the gate was helpful too. Now I know why people do this in department stores:


So, that's it...sayonara til next post!

(which will be soon...as soon as tomorrow!)