The School Defense Pole

A few months ago every school in Japan was equipped with one of these:



A while back a madman randomly entered a school and attacked some students. These poles are the schools' response. They are intended for keeping an attacker at bay. In my school they silently appeared one day, strategically placed in two parts of the building. Elementary schools had demonstrations to show the poles' usefulness.

I think these poles are a joke. All the foreigners and most of the Japanese people I talk to agree. The poles wouldn't even slow down someone who was violent and determined. But apparently the school nurse takes them quite seriously.

Today I wanted to provide you with a hilarious pic of me actually wielding the pole, so I gave my camera to a student, found the pole, picked it up, and posed. Then the nurse appeared, and proceeded to bitch me out in front of the students. I couldn't understand her Japanese (it was fast and furious), but I did pick out one word I knew, "dame," (da-may) which I believe translates to "bad." She also made an X with her fingers. It was a bit embarassing to be yelled at in front of the students, but I calmly put the pole back on the wall and thanked the students for trying to help take the picture. Then they asked, "Hey whats that pole for?"

Good question.

Weekend Images

These are all images I took on my cell phone camera


Nobuko bears the burden of Alex


A night of tomfoolery


Stop the AIDS. Use protection. Place condom vending machines in public view along a busy street.


I will not give you the benefit of an explanation for this one.

Also of note: After dreading that I had waited too long to plan a trip for golden week (next week), I am now planning on riding across Aomori-Ken on a bike with my friend Dan. Should be fun if I don't pass out from exhaustion. Expect pics from that in the future.

Random Sushi Post

This is a post for the folks back home. Before I came to Japan, I didn't much like sushi. I don't know if that is because it just took time to adjust my tastes or if the sushi i had eaten in America was low quality. Whatever the case, I love it now. Not every kind, but most. In fact, I have reached a point where cooked fish grosses me out a little. It just seems more natural in sushi form.

Here is a typical plate of sushi in this region:


From left to right, top to bottom are mackerel, tuna, abalone, crab, scallop, salmon, shrimp, fish egg (I don't know which kind of fish), sea urchin, and ginger for flavor. These are all raw except, I believe, the crab (and possibly the shrimp.. I need to do more research). Noticably missing is squid, which this area is known for and is quite delicious. Everything on the plate tastes good, though the texture of some (the eggs and the sea urchin) is a bit unpleasant.

I prefer sushi in this form, with the meat on top of the rice, over being wrapped in seaweed. I also like sashimi, where there is just meat and no rice. Anyway, enough rambling. Here is a picture of maizushi, an amazing, somewhat expensive sushi restaurant in the town of Higashidori. There is no menu, just a sushi chef and his wife who bring you food until you can eat no more. Frequented by salarymen and fishermen getting drunk off of Japanese beer and sake, it is the ultimate Japanese experience. I'm sure I'll take better pictures of it to post another day.

Chris's Seal of Approval

In Japan instead of signing documents, people stamp them with their official seal, or "hanko". Here is mine. From top to bottom the symbols spell out ku-ri-su. This is katakana, the Japanese syllabary for sounding out foreign words. The symbols have no meaning by themselves, as opposed to "kanji", the Chinese characters used in Japanese words and names.

Hakkoda Video

If you are curious how I spent my winter in the frozen lands of aomori, then you should check out my friend Francois's web page. He put together an awesome compilation video of skiing and snowboarding at Mt. Hakkoda, where I went every weekend, and a few other mountains. Click here to download the file. Unfortunately, I'm not in the video (I'm not quite as skilled as the people featured), but my friends are.

Cooking Class and Soccer

And onto my first post with any substance!

First of all, the past weekend I went on a road trip with the Aomori United soccer team to play in a tournament in Tochigi. The games were fun, though we lost, the weather was nice, and the cherry trees were blossoming. Quite an event.


Here I am looking like a fool on the sideline.


Here is my buddy Dan controlling the ball.


And here is a random guy getting some shade and protecting himself from germs.

And the other event worth reporting -- just today I had a cooking class in Mutsu. My friend TJ puts these on once a month for the community, and this month we used the recipes for empanadas and sopapillas that I got from my host mother when I studied abroad in Argentina. To my suprise, it was a success and all the food came out well. Enjoy the pics.

Hello!

This is my first official post, so welcome to the new "Chris in Japan" website. In this blog format, I will be able to update it more frequently and casually. I hope you enjoy it!