Sound Horizon Concert and Strolling through Nakazakicho

After spending the holidays in America, I started to look into my next quick weekend trop. On the weekend of January 16th I noticed that my favorite Japanese band, Sound Horizon, was doing limited encore showings of their most recent concert in movie theaters around Japan. To give a little background on why this was a big deal to me, this band does not do tours in a traditional sense, but rather a few bombastic performances upon release of a new album. The band's performances are a combination of Trans-Siberian Orchestra, the Blue Man Group, and musical theater all blended together. This movie theater showing would likely be my only real chance to see them in action while in Japan.

So I set off for Osaka, the closest theater showing the screening to me. I arrived in town early, and had the afternoon to wander Umeda, the central transportation and main shopping district of Osaka. The commercialism centers in Japan are one of a kind spectacles in their own right. The massive mall-like complexes are crammed to the brim with mostly smaller shops, feeling more like a modernized bazaar than the dedicated western storefronts I am accustomed to seeing within malls. Within these massive shopping complexes some companies put up specialized show floors. Panasonic has a particularly large, 3 story one featuring not only their latest technology, but also conceptual ideas. Many of these areas understandably restricted photography. Some things I saw included a specialized listening room for their highest quality surround sound system, a Bed Bath and Beyond style section featuring entire rooms furnished with their household amenities, and a sensor laden "Smart House" which reacted to people dynamically by turning on and off light, AC, and even household electronics. A particular highlight was a 3D Photo Lab which took pictures of me from every angle, in the hopes I would buy a printed figurine of myself. The price point held back any narcissistic tendency that experience might have awakened, but they did graciously send me the files.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat, I traversed the bustling area of Umeda to the cinema for the main event of the weekend. On my way I passed an interesting art peace in the station, a clock which displays the time and other imagery using falling water.

Sound Horizon's showing was impressive to say the least. The theatrical release was a condensed, visually augmented version of the theater performance. The edit skipped the many acting parts, instead displaying quick clips and a synopsis, before transitioning to the musical performance. The songs themselves were still quite theatrical, with the singers in full costume acting out the lyrics with a myriad of supporting cast dancing or bringing props on stage.

Possibly the most Japanese thing I've witnessed.

Personally I feel this performance encapsulated many aspects of modern Japanese media culture. The attention to detail, incredible thoroughness, and liberal appropriation of western tropes blended together with uniquely Japanese trends were perfectly encapsulated throughout the entirely of this concert. The English narrator, symphonic elements, and Eurocentric costume designs take an exaggerated, romanticized pieces of western culture to weave a fantastic "foreign" setting. Yet the high fashion of the protagonist, wild hairstyles, and a particular performance with Tron-esque neon cat people were distinctly characteristic Japanese pop culture. These elements did not clash, but rather support each other in an extravagant, entertaining performance, in my opinion Quintessential modern Japan entertainment. My description might still be lacking, or even confusing, so below is one of the musical performances, which will either make everything I wrote much more clear, and simultaneously much more confusing.




PS. They sold postcards with screenshots of the concert, which I have posted in the galley and throughout the blog.

The next day I joined up with Mandy and Valerie, the friends who toured Tottori with me in December. We set out to explore Nakazakicho, an older section of Osaka with houses retrofitted into a variety of small shops and cafes. We spent the day browsing these shops and cafes. They all had unique atmospheres and quality stuff. Some of the places we wandered into were a store which sold only buttons, a cafe with an small art gallery in the back, and a quirky hat store. These stores and more focused on selling locally produced crafts and trinkets. It was nice to see a vibrant local shopping scene so close to the monolithic commercial center of Umeda.

One of the shops had very cool, Japanese branded watches. The owner was fun to chat with, and a pretty shrewd salesman. He had me try on multiple watches before I finally left the establishment.  We had also stumbled upon a very presentable granola shop which had some delicious flavors to try. We found a shop specializing in fabric dye, and above it were a few studio spaces with local artists displaying their work. And of course, there were a few "vintage" shops selling American clothing from the 80s, which seems to be a popular niche market in Japan.

Right before catching my bus, we ate our fill at Heizo-Chicken, a fried chicken restaurant near the bus station which has always caught my eye with their stark simple aesthetic. I was glad the food matched the impressive storefront.

The Random Tidbits of Life in Tottori

So I often post about the many weekend adventures I take throughout Japan, but I realize I have not spoken much about my daily life.  So I began to write this post, and it got fairly out of hand. After continuing to add to it for months, I decided enough is enough, and I will just do another update down the road with more info later.

I work at a rather unique technical high school. Japan's school system diverts at the end of grade school to either academic high schools (college-prep) or technical high schools (general education combined with vocational studies). I have heard this is somewhat akin to Germany.  Junior high school students have to take rigorous entrance exams for schools they want to attend, and once they go to high school they are pretty set on their career path.

My school has 5 departments, each devoted to a particular vocation. We have M (industrial machinery), I (IT/graphic design, etc,), F (farming), G (gardening), and H (pre-med/hospice care). Each of these respective departments have specific utilities for their fields of study. We have a farm adjacent to our school, a whole floor of computer labs, large scale machinery, a food processing plant, and a group kitchen, just to name a few facilities.  I recently got to use the group kitchen/cooking classroom to make Christmas cake, which is THE thing in japan to celebrate Christmas (that and KFC, their marketing team really set a trend). Other notable parts of my school is that it has 2 gymnasiums, one which has a rock wall and judo mat, as well as a kyudo range.

Like all Japanese schools, there is no insulation or central heating. My school recently had some heaters installed which make the teachers room a bit more bearable, but it is getting cold. During the winter it is totally normal for the nurse to wander the school and check the CO2 levels in the classrooms, since students shut all the doors and windows to keep heat in at the risk of suffocation.  I was told this scenario is a combination of traditions from older Japanese style buildings (which were never designed with insulation in mind, but rather to have good airflow for the hot summers) and respect for taxpayers (since I guess warmth is not a necessity for education).

I am one of busier ALTs in the country. I teach 3 classes a day, I teach all 3 years (most ALTs do not teach 3rd years), and I have 19 different classes I teach. I make 4 lesson plans about every 10 days or so, and I also run an English chat time Thursdays called English Cafe where we play card games or other activities. While I am technically 'team teaching', I plan and lead the whole lesson during that day. So I enjoy teaching in the classroom itself, but lesson planning can be a little mentally exhausting. But the students' attitudes definitely brighten my day and keep me upbeat during my time at work.

The students are incredible though, especially in regards to their clubs. After the closing ceremonies there was a short concert where the school band played beautiful renditions of Ghibli music.  As I had mentioned I had joined the cooking club to make Christmas cake as well. Speaking of cooking, one of the F classes also had a bento day where they sold delicious bento boxes to students. This was a big deal in the school, but I lucked out and managed to purchase a ticket for lunch myself.  Students practice at their clubs every day and often times on weekends as well. For them (and the teachers coaching) it is much more akin to a part time job than anything else.

Also, our school recently invested in iPads, which is apparently a big deal. My Vice Principal asked me to make a lesson with them, so I skyped my parents for my English elective class, which was a big enough deal that the BOE reps came to watch with my principal, and they published the class online on the school website (which actually features tons of up to date information and pictures about the school, its very cool).  Here's the link where you can try to work your way though, the news at the bottom shows what's been happening recently at the school: http://www.torikyo.ed.jp/koryou-h/

So I am never alone in a classroom, I am always team teaching with a Japanese Teachers of English (JTE). The three JTEs who I team-teach with have very unique personalities.  My main supervisor, Mori-sensei, is a quirky, positive, funny yes-man.  His unabated positive attitude is an uplifting presence to be around.  Higari-sensei is a teacher I mesh particularly well with in class, so she is great to work with.  And my last teacher, Fujiwara-sensei, takes work seriously and has been a valuable coach for learning how to teach English.

Fujiwara-sensei and the librarian, Maeda-sensei, are the teachers I see the most. I go to the library's office for lunch to microwave my food, as well as to speak to the students during lunch break. Every once in a while students will be shuffled in by a teacher and forced to talk with me. While they may be forced, these interactions have been the most impressive moments of English speaking I have had with my high schoolers, who often times can't even get past the question 'how are you?'. In this scenario the students get the opportunity to try using English without the influence of the classroom, so they manage pretty well in basic conversation. This is not to say that all students dislike speaking English. There are a few students who have gone out of their way on the train to speak with me, and others who enthusiastically greet me in the hallways at school.

Interacting with the two library teachers has also been great learning experiences for me, since they are constantly volunteering information about Japanese customs. Upon returning to Japan from winter break, they gave me mochi traditionally eaten during the new year, as well as explained the bamboo planters that popped up all over town (including in front of our school). These arrangements are akin to Christmas trees, they serve to welcome the new year, and the holes in the bamboo are dwellings for spirits/gods to reside in.  We often trade knowledge, since they also take time to ask me about American customs, as well as English phrases and words. 

Speaking of speaking, one of the adjunct teachers, and elderly gentleman named Shimizu Tatsuo goes out of his way once a week to speak to me about current affairs he saw on the news in English. Prior to meeting with me he writes out what he wants to say in a notebook as a starting point for discussion. I am floored by the amount of effort he puts in just to have a casual conversation with me, and it's a unique treat to have political and social discussions in English. Also, recently Kawaguchi Tomoka, a Machine teacher and former student of Fujiwara-sensei, has been coming to the library to practice English with me, while I practice Japanese with her.  Over just the past few weeks her English has greatly improved, which is probably just due to her confidence being built during our interactions. 

All of my other coworkers are nice, although they do not speak English much, nor do I make the time to try and converse with them myself, are very cordial with me. Yet on two different occasions I have been invited out to dinner with some small groups of teachers. These have been great moments to interact with my teachers, since I am no longer preoccupied with work.  I have also gotten the chance to learn a bit more about my teachers, who are pretty interesting people.

My school just recently had it's closing ceremony for winter break. They presented awards to students who had won various club related contests throughout the year, and then the principal gave a short speech. It was nothing too notable, but I wanted to mention it because I find it very interesting how much Japan has ritualized their school system, with the variety of ceremonies and 'rituals'. For example, the week prior during the morning meeting also included a statement everyone read in unison about being committed to high standards of education. The daily cleaning time even feels ritualized, with the school theme song being played over the speakers during the entire ten minutes.

At the end of the year is also the bonenkai, the equivalent of a company's end of the year party.  Ours was held at our city's famous ryokan Kozeniya, conveniently located 3 minutes away from my apartment.  In a large room we were served an exquisite multiple course Japanese style meal with unlimited beer and sake (and soft drinks for the drivers).  These work parties are an integral part of Japanese culture; it is when everyone unwinds and builds better relationships with their coworkers. I once again got the chance to speak with many teachers I had not spoken to prior. Later into the meal we played the most intense game of bingo I have ever been a part of for some fun prizes.  It was amusing to see some of the more conservative teachers come out of their shells, and for the outgoing teachers go all out. There was shouting, victory speeches, and (because Japan) janken for prizes. Japan plays bingo a bit differently too. When you are one away from bingo you yell 'reach!' and stand up. I think this really added to the intensity of the atmosphere, that or the alcohol. After dinner had finished, we had the option to go to the ryokan's onsen, famously used by a past emperor of Japan during his time in Tottori. The bath was a great way to unwind and relax after a rather exciting dinner and demanding workweek.

Outside of school I occasionally have run English camp events for the prefecture, where students from around the city come for a weekend of English-centric and cultural activities. Recently was a Halloween one where we even got to carve our own pumpkins.

As a JET there are also occasional conferences for us. One being a skills development conference which helped us learn some useful teaching skills from one another. The other was a cultural exchange conference where we spent the day with Japanese college students trying our hand at Japanese cultural activities. I myself played Karuta, an old Japanese card game requiring listening and reading skills as well as quick reaction times, and Kasa Odori, the Shan Shan umbrella dancing. Later that night, the Association of JETs also planned a fun trivia night for all of us. I am impressed by how JET makes an effort to foster a community for its many ALTs across the country.

The city I live in, Tottori-shi, is rather convenient for daily living. I like to say it has 'just one' of everything. I live in a small, rather dated apartment complex with all of the other ALTs, but everything is just serviceable. It is also right in the center of town. I am close to a discount grocery store, a small AEON mall (think department store with a grocery store and McDonald's, these are very common, basically what Sear's used to be decades ago) and a couple other grocery stores. I am walking distance from our train station, restaurant/bar district, and I am biking distance from everything else I could need, game stores, dry cleaners, second hand stores (which are really nice out here), and even notable onsen. I am also very close by to the city's main street, which has a variety of shops. At the end of that road is castle ruins and a short scenic hike I have yet to do. And about 30 minutes away by bike is the 'big' park meadows-esque shopping mall.  My city also hosts a massive sports complex across town where the Jamaican track team trains every year before international competitions, but it is a bit far for me to frequent.

My city also offers free English lessons at the library, which has a wing at the airport once a week. I work with Takashi Saito, a science teacher in the city who has an amazing handle on English. The library offers a lot of services for foreigners, and I really have only taken advantage of the one. But it is great because it has helped motivate me to become more competent with Japanese. Often times I have been far too lazy or preoccupied to devote the amount of time necessary to really become competent. I regret doing, so next year I will make a greater effort.

My weekly routine is fairly simple. Since my apartment is a tiny 1K (1 room and a kitchenette), cooking takes up a lot of my time. I wake up early and make breakfast and lunch for the day, go to work, run some sort of errand, eat dinner, have maybe 2 hours of free time, sleep, and repeat. So even though I live in an apartment with many other English teachers, I don't often make time to see them. Most of them go out to the local bar right down the street quite frequently. The bar, Shubi-du-Bar, is owned by our landlord's son, Taiyu. Taiyu is a cool guy with an amazing talent to remember anyone's name. I will occasionally go myself, because he serves one of the best hamburgers I have ever eaten.

My local haunt is a Japanese curry restaurant called Moona. Located right behind my apartment, I hop a low wall to make my weekly curry run. My favorite meal, pika curry, is a rather unique dish. The best way I can describe pika is that it is incredibly juicy, soft, fatty ends of pork that usually are thrown away instead of eaten. You don't chew pika, it melts in your mouth, and is most definitely my favorite food. In addition to great food, the owner, Yasuaki, is super cool and quirky. He is part of that really cool all black shan shan group I mentioned in one of my first blogs (you can find it here), crazy permed hair, and an obsession with fishing. After becoming a regular, he first told me about a secret menu item he occasionally stocks, which is a particularly fatty beef curry. Just the other day I saw him making a stock, so I asked him about it. It turned into a 20 minute conversation where he explained the whole process of making his curry, and even showed me his secret recipe of spices. It takes 10 hours to make the ru (curry sauce), with 8 being the stock simmering, followed by stir frying onions and blending in spices, yogurt, and tomatoes all together. You can taste the effort and attention to detail in his meals. We have also gone for drinks with him and another regular. After a few hours of fun attempted conversation at a nearby bar, he covered all of our tabs!

By school is the fantastic Japanese style family-owned restaurant Sarashina. While technically an izakaya (restaurant bar, the most common kind of restaurant in Japan), Sarashina serves delicious, locally sourced food in gorgeous arrangements. While the main dishes always are the same, the variety of sides change with what's currently in season in Tottori. The chef, Takashi, is a cool guy in his 40s who speaks absolutely no English. His mother however, does have a surprisingly strong English vocabulary, but no grammar knowledge. The chef's wife, Maki, speaks the best English because she teaches English at a Kumon nearby, so I was invited by her to join her friend Kumi for lunch a bit ago at a restaurant close to my school. Kumi is well traveled, so it was great to speak with her about other places I should go in Japan. This family also prepared a fantastic meal for my friends and I when they visited Tottori, at an incredible discount. Very recently, the family invited me to join them for dinner an a quick trip to the nearby Hyouki onsen. Every onsen I have been to is different, it seems they try to implement unique features to draw customers. This one had a large, waist deep walking pool, and fake waterfalls you could sit under which loosened my shoulders up quite a bit. It was equally fun and challenging to communicate entirely in Japanese for hours, but the family is very nice and genuinely interesting. I learned when Takashi was my age, he took a motorcycle and did a road trip all the way up to Hokkaido one summer. I look forward to asking him more about it! While I know it's mostly because I am a rather stereotypical foreigner, it has been great to be able to build relationships with so many nice people here in Japan.

So even while I don't see other ALTs throughout the week. The AJET branch of Tottori (a volunteer association of ALTs) has also been organizing a variety of events for us. In November one JET hosted a thanksgiving potluck, where someone actually managed to get a turkey. The swimming hole blog was an AJET event (you can read it here) At these events many of the ALTs from across the prefecture to socalize along with local Japanese friends. They are always great events and I am really glad they get put on.

Some of these locals I have managed to keep in contact with. Erika, whom I have gone to the beach and explored Osaka with, I of the first AJET event.  Another guy, Yasu runs a local sporting goods store in close proximity to my apartment. He studied abroad in the US, and he often comes to AJET events to keep his English fresh.  I went out and joined him and his friends the other night, one of whom ended up being a teacher from my school. Small town, small world.  This teacher, Norio Uemura, has never spoken English to me, yet that night I learned he worked in America for Ford Motors many years ago, and that his listening and reading comprehension are quite high. 

Mostly though these events I have also made some great English speaking friends, both within my city and within my prefecture. Some have popped up in my blogs quite a bit, since I have hopped in on their plans on occasion.  One such event was the shrine reopening (here), and a Christmas party (here). I recently also started a D&D campaign with a few Yonago ALTs, which is a perfect activity for these mellow winter months.

So yeah, hopefully you make it all the way through this and that I have given you a good glimpse of my true life in Japan.  If you want to see some more snapshots of life in Tottori, here's the extensive gallery:

Tottori Tourism

After living in Tottori for almost 5 months, I finally did the tourist thing in my own city on the weekend of 12/19. Two ALTs from the Kansai area, Mandy and Valerie, drove up to see the sights in my neck of the woods.

We started our day with inshu-washi, traditional Japanese paper-making in the nearby town of Aoya. The process involves stripping trees of bark and turning the fibers into a mush, which is then dried on a screen. Dyes and additional paper can be applied to the paper during drying process, creating the opportunity to turn the sheets into works of art.


After our designs are meticulously created, they then use a vacuum to suck out the water, and the a heated wall to dry the paper, so a process centuries ago took days, today could be done in minutes. At the end we all had created paper lamps we got to take home. Before we left we got the chance to peruse the main display area, which had some impressive papercraft such as an origami zodiac display, paper bouquets, and even paper models of paper-making!


Back in Tottori we stopped briefly at the fish market for some seafood donburi (rice bowl), and then some gelato dessert. The hall was filled with a wide variety of freshly caught fish on display, and matched the variety of fresh fish in my lunch, which was artistic, filling, and delicious.  Oddly enough, while we think of Japan as a land of seafood, only some select coastal cities like Tottori actually feature fresh seafood.

Next we headed to the main attraction, the Tottori Sand Museum. This large building next to Tottori's famous sand dune features massive sand sculptures from artists all over the world. This year's theme was Germany, and featured displays of fairy tales, renditions of German artwork, landmarks, and famous moments in German history all meticulously carved in sand. They had dramatic, real life moments such as the fall of the Berlin wall recreated in sand. They also constructed fantastic fantasy creations with scenes from the Brother's Grimm (and the brothers themselves). The final display on the fall wall perfectly encompassed the exhibit. It was a grand structure of scenery, blending historically accurate meetings of aristocracy with nods to Cinderella within the work.  The artists seemed to make their best effort in encompassing all of Germany's accomplishments; literary, scientific, and historical.  While all of the works are masterpieces, my favorite had to be the Faust sculpture, which presented most of the story elements in a single dramatic scene.

Outside of the museum, the artists had set up another notable work. Trending with the times, they had built a star wars display in celebration of the new movie release.

As we finished our tour of the museum, the exterior lit up in brilliant blue. During the holiday season the museum features two large illuminations on it's grounds. The Mechanical Department students at my school have contributed works to these displays in the past, so I bet some of these light sculptures were theirs. The first, right next to the museum, had an ocean theme. There were sculptures of waves, mermaids, and even a boat.  The hillside was blanketed in waves of light, and the walkway through was structured to appear as a barrel of a wave. At the top of the hill was large illuminated platform filled with marbles, accompanied with tranquil music, created an otherworldly scene. There was also a tree sculpture with a bell you could ring for good luck!

The next display, in the parking lot, was a grand rendition of the famous white rabbit of Inaba story, accompanied with it's own light show and musical performance. This story is the famous folklore of our area, and you can read about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hare_of_Inaba. Unfortunately my battery was running low, so I didn't get the chance to film it for you.


Afterwards we went to one of my favorite restaurants in Tottori, Sarashina. A small, family owned, traditional Japanese restaurant right behind my school, I go when I can to eat fresh local food. Tonight was no exception, since we had a reservation to eat renowned Tottori crab in a hotpot, in Japanese, kaninabe. The sheer amount of crab they prepared for us was staggering, two plates full of grilled crab, in addition to the large hotpot plate. In true Japanese fashion, they had considerately cut every single crab leg and body for easy eating. We began what ended up being a 5 hour feast. 4 hours in, when we had finally finished the nabe (hotpot) crab, they poured rice and eggs into the hotpot, turning the broth into a porridge. Throughout the meal we had a lot of fun chatting with the chef and his mother. My friends are a fair amount more proficient in Japanese, so I was glad we had the opportunity to entertain them as they entertained us.


The next day we headed into town to Hotel Monarque to use their onsen. Tottori is somewhat unusual in that it has a natural spring right in the center of town. Many springs throughout the country are relatively remote, so resort towns are built around them. Thankfully I do not have to travel far to relax in these waters. The Monarque is the one high end western style hotel in our city, and while it is expensive to stay the night, access to the bath is reasonable. The Monarque also has the perk of a sauna in the bath area. Feeling fresh after this relaxing start to our day, we set back off into the sand!

We drove back out to the sand dunes, this time to wander the dunes themselves. Mandy and Valerie opted to ride the camels at the dunes, which was amusing and fun! We learned the camels are from Mongolia (I didn't know Mongolia had camels), so they handle cold weather very well and actually struggle in the heat during the summers. We then wandered on top of the main ridge and took in the views before ending our evening at a local Indian restaurant.

I had a great time exploring my own area of Japan with some fantastic people, I should have done so months ago!