Shiv-san the sushi chef

so.. last night shiv made sushi, maki rolls and sashimi (from scrach!)

i have been excited for this dinner for days, and it was worth the wait. every one already knows i dont like raw fish. except maybe the occasional surf clam. But shiv made me chicken Kaarage maki rolls as well as crab rolls. the pictures dont do the food justice. it was really good. He also made 2 diping sauces for the fiasco. One a home made spicky terriyaki dip and the other a spicy mayo dip. altogether the meal looked awsome and tasted awesomer.

Also, my hair is getting longer and since its quite humid here i can just wear it out like a wild woman. and i quite like it. so freeing. some times i have visions of me with straight hair again, and i miss it. there i days i miss being able to run my fingers through my hair. But those thoughts are all but fleeting when i get ready for work in 15 minutes in the morning.

shiv was quite delirious today after we went to shakeys. he had some really funny sinereos in his head.

1) Saying "what up playa?" to the bank teller at UFJ bank
2)Doing a feirce macarena in OCAT amongst all the J-B-Boys and J-B-Girls
3) 2 fully suited japanese business men holding hands in namba walk. Oh the burning hell stares they would get!
4) screaming "its going to fast...STOP!!" on the shinkansen (bullet train)
5) Falling all over people on a packed, and i mean PACKED train out of JR Namba station

ps. the trains are so packed here. it actually looks like a glass tubular sardine can that every time the train made a slight movement, i could tell the thread count of the business man's jacket infront of me, with my tounge. no lie! it was good quality.

here are some pictures of the dinner and my hair.
xoxo

Im learning English to understand richard simmons...

Yeah, its true. Students will spend thousands upons thousands of dollars with nova to learn such life altering skills as
1) talking to foreign countries people
2) to read the back of DVD boxes
3) to understand their daughters fiancee
4) to tbe able to understand Jay-Z (ps she is 60 and a house wife)
5) to show off to co-workers
6) for the joy of learning englsih converstaion

so work has been good. you get some really amazing stunners who make you happy to be in japan teaching english. and you get some duds. Some students so slow that you want to (and do ) turn off the screen and proceed to gauge out your eyeballs with a chopstick.

in the past few weeks we have been doing lots of errands on our days off. working out. shiv is down to a svelte 67 kilograms and looks like a god. I an the other hand have lost 3.5 kilograms and am down to 58 kgs. by the way i came here weighing 61.8kgs and shiv 78kgs. nuts hey. if any one is super determined to loose some weight. come to japan.

shivs friend doug crossman is getting some mad work done here in japan. he is getting his whole back tattooed at chopstick tattoo here in osaka. Shiv and doug bonded and became fast friends in edmonton due to their shared interest in tattoo and Ton ( tattoo artist's) work here at chopstick. Doug is planning on making monthly painfull trips from Seoul Korea to osaka to get his tattoo done in increments. during his time spent in osaka, he can bleed techno colored patterns on our kitcken floor. Doug there is always a place for you in our home.... and thats infront of the fridge.

The crew at chopsticks seem to be really nice and well...diverse. you have Ton who is a huge ball of friendly energy, and amazing artist with good ideas. you have the part time girls that work there that are like well.... they look just like a japanese girl from a high fashion magazine, but way more colorfull and much more tattooed. super intersting. from their blond hair down to the pink nails, super amazing make up, afro perm, glitter eye liner, hot pink nails, and super cool style. They basically make regular japanese girls look like mold.

then there is osaka ben. on the web site he is .... the attractive blond, or in another picture the attractive brunette with pigtails in the gothic lolita out fit. We met ben in his "boring" clothes. black shirt and pants. He was very kind. gave myself, shiv and doug a great back ground on tattooing, the shop, its history and staff. He was even so kind as to show us the work that he and chopstick tatoo staff have done ( on his own body). Ben seems to be a really kind and out going person. If you see him on the street you would faster think he was a mormon missionary, than a tattoo artist. And it probably would never occur to you his whole body is tattooed.

How do we know this, because ben took of his shirt, then pants (and underwear) to show us his "body of work". I think he has alot of self esteem because i noticed i was in the room. but i dont think he cared much. so there he is naked, holding his crotch pointing out all of his different tattoos, who did them, when. All the while shiv and doug and me are like
" is he naked... i think hes naked..does any one see this... i think hes naked"

all i can say is the artists at chopstick are focused on producing great art.it shows in how excited they get to talk about it, it shows in the art work around the offices and especially on the artists themselves..

This week me and shiv are super excited to go on our next adventure ROCCO MT. he are going to go hiking. shiv is going to take photos, and i am going to paint. i think it will be a goo break from grey osaka to see the wilderness, and i hope some fresh air will help me sleep better.
till next time

ps the pictures are of 1) dougs tattoo in progress 2) zeev and pooh-san 3) shivs super dinner (featuring his garlic miso tofu!), 4) jan and one of the chop stick tattoo receptionists (see what i mean..so cool)

the governator-san..

so its been quite some time since i wrote, but i'll make it worth your while...arrrrrrrr!

im starting to think that america is not the only country that has a super entertaining political landscape. Japan political scene is rip roaring good time. when we had TV, on any given day you could turn on the TV and see some politician being ousted for fraud or embezzlement. While american politics is rife with personal scandal. The japanese have kicked it up a notch. We were really suprised to see how commonplace it is to have a politician who has been using his parties funds to take a year long vacation. My favorite though is this one little politican Tadahiro Ando, of Miyazaki Prefecture who was foud to be embezzling tons of money out of his prefecture, involved with criminals, and doing some dirty business deals with some high rolling Japanese companies.

What hes accused of is not the entertaing part to his story. The funny part is that he was convicted of all these crimes. The whole country demands him to step down, and every day hes on the TV saying " i dont know what your talking about". I love it.
The kicker though is, the people did infact boot him out and replaced his devious ass with a more trust worthy personality. TV entertainer Sonomanma Higashi !!!! thats him in the picture. I can tell hes a real people person and hes looking out for the national good. you can see his kind caring demenor in the way he raises the roof. PEACE! (picture from the Japan Times Newspaper. www.japantimes.com)

On another note, i have been doing lessons on Japan and the modern world with my students. I really like to teach this lesson because it showcases 3 types of japanese people
1) world-ly japanese people: the type who know japan ( the good the bad and the ugly) and are willing to talk/debate topics
2) crazy japanese nationalists: the type who think japan can do no wrong, and pit the demise of japan on China, Korea (basically any country that isn't Japan)
3) Frozen Japanese people: they are a little motionless face on my ginga net screen. either their camera is frozen or their minds dont work. Either or, they dont say or do much.

So, i love to talk about the declining birth rate in japan. Many of the house wives I talk to are married but have no kids. either they or their husbands dont want kids or the thought never crossed their minds. Its really interesting to see how many adults in japan have no kids of grand kids. There is such a culture of work work work in Japan. I really do fear for the upcoming generations of japanese kids who dont want lives like their parents . I also fear the masses of elderly people in Japan that keep on growing in number. I think the elderly live for ever here. but i have to admit, they can keep on doing what they are doing, cause japanese grannies are so tiny and cute, you just want to pick them up, and put them in your pocket.

Its expensive and hard to have kids in japan. I think thats why so many people for go having kids and have dog babies and cat-children instead. I hate the former and the latter and will dedicate and entire blog to the subject at a later date.

Also, the japanese have this draconian immigration system that is not to friendly. Basically you can become a Japanese citizen if...you're japanese.
So i dont know where that leaves you, but i dont think that many people are becoming japanese any time soon.
you can be living in japan for 50 years and still be considered Gaijin "foreigner", its nuts. Even if your grand ma is Chinese and you were born in japan, you're chinese.

A big news story that happened this fall, was the deportation of this Iranian family from Japan. The kids were all born in Japan, the family had over stayed its visa and had been living and working in Japan for about 20 years. The daughter was even going to university in Japan. But the go'v t said "times up" and booted them out. Gotta love that.

Oh japan. its such an interesting land. Lastly i have a short story about a mum and son that sticks in my head. Me and the mum were talking about the education system for kids and what things have changed in Japan since the 1960's. One thing she said was "there is no where for my son to play". weird enough, she was living in Yokohama, a concrete jungle of a city. So she told me how she and her son were talking and he told her that he couldn't play baseball or any thing cause there is no park, and he wondered if there could be a park built to that he could play with his friends.

so him and his mum sat down and wrote a letter to the mayor of the prefecture asking that a park or play area be built for the kids. They recived a letter back stating something like this
" there is no plan for a park or play space in our prefecture. as you know there are alot of people in japan and space is precious. Land is expensive and realestate should be zoned for more economically important developments such as buildings and housing",

so sad, but true. much of the down town areas (wich are massive) have very few green areas. I think in the whole of down town osaka there is about 2 square meters of grass!!! the schools have a play ground, but its super tiny and all dirt. no grass. I feel for the youth in osaka, tokyo and yokohama. I think in the future they will spend far too much time inside, studying or playing PS2 and not enough time outside, socialising and getting fresh air.

I think the effects of this stiffled generation is being felt. I have met some interesting nut cases at nova, and some really shy closeted teens. i hope my lessons at nova bring a ray of sunshine into someones life.

01.01.07

well new years was very good, considering most of the plans made for new years didnt end up happening. In the end good drink and good company equaled a good night.

So the night started off with our posse( me, shiv, zeev, ania, jon, yuske and sean) running a tad on the late side to meet up with the nova posse at the 280 bar. We stopped off to have Wendy's (YAH!) and boy was it worth it. Their hundred yen menu is great and the burgers so succulent.

Well, after Wendy's we headed to the 280, but luck was not on our side because the bar was crowded and we had to wait outside. The host/waiter that met us at the door didn't really look too entertained by a huge group of gainjin standing outside the bar wanting to get in. Also he may not have looked to impressed because he had 2 black eyes,a cut on his forehead and red eyeballs because of a burst vessel in his eye. All i kept on thinking was “dont any one annoy this guy...cause he will probably kill you”. But as luck you have it, we didn;t have to wait too long, and “he” escorted us to our table. At our table we proceeded to drink and drink and order kawai (cute) appetizers from their amazing menu till 2 or 3 in the morning. We made kampai friends with some japanese people sitting beside us and we toasted to every one in the bar at midnight. Tons of fun was had by all.

After the 280 we walked the streets of dotombori area to find an all night all you can drink karaoke place. But all the karaoke places had hiked up their prices for new years eve to about 4000 yen per person. We also tried to find a night club to dance the night away in, but the cover charges we hiked up to about 5000 yen per person. So, we decided to have our own party back at our place. Me, ania, sean and yuske took a cab back to our apartment, while hot shots shiv and zeev walked home. They got lost, but found the place after calling jon (in bed) for directions. We (every one but me) stayed up till the wee hours of the morning (6ish), i went to bed at about 5:30.

A real fun night, slept in till 11 this morning. I made kiribat (milk rice) a traditional srilankan meal thats served in the morning on the 1st of the month. We were quite suprised that it turned out well. Shiv had tons of energy in the morning and was rearing to go running at the gym. He went to the gym, but to his dismay, the gym was closed. We ate a late breakfast and went back to bed. For some strange reason shiv decided to check his email at 4ish to see what time his friend doug's flight was getting in. We were expecting doug on the 2nd. But Doug had emailed shiv to say that his flight got in 1.5hrs ago and hes at the airport!!! well what day. Went for some good curry with the whole gang (me, shiv, zeev, ania, doug,jon and jons friend from tokyo) and now its relax time.
Happy new year every body!!!

Adventeurs!

So, we had to work on the 25, 26 and 27th. But from the 27-5th we are home free. I was so excited for the 28th because it was the 1st day of our vacation, and we were actually going on vacation!. We booked a trip to Shirahama. A beachy/onsen town in the southern Kansai region of Japan. The whole trip was great. We left our apartmento at 5:30 am with our MEC back packs on, hiking booties, camera equipment, umbrells strapped to the back packs. The whole 9 yards. We looked pro. P.S. dilshi/matt we love the bags.

If any one is doing the slightest bit of carrying, get a MEC back pack. It makes any weight feel like nothing. We carried thouse bags all day, and they were stuffed. And they felt like nothing.

Any ways... there we were looking like back packers walking down the side walk in bentencho with all the morning rush hour traffic looking at us like (what the.....) but we caught the train to shin-osaka staion and from there we had to wait a bit for the 7:35 train to shirahama. So in that time we went to Lotteria and ate some breakfast “set-tos”. setto=combos. Often in japanese, all you have to do is change your accent, put a little J-style into your pronouciation and you will be understood better.
For example
Coffee- they wont understand Kaw-fee=they will understand
vanilla Wanilla
apartment apartmento
bus Busu

And you get the point. So we read magazines, looked at cell phone charms (very popular here) (shiv has a fist sized winney the pooh dangling off his cell) his name is Pooh-san. Then at 7:20 we went to the platform to board the train.

The train ride was really nice cause it went along the coast, and it was really nice to see the grey building of Osaka fade away and we slowly snaked out of the downtown areas and into the burbs. I found it really intersting to see that there was really no wide open space along the train paths. Every where you look, was houses, building etc... just less in some areas, and more in others. It was a breath of fresh air to see the sky, and grass. Two things we hardly see in Osaka. After staring at the scenery for a while I fell asleep and didnt wake up will we were nearly at shirahama. And to my suprise there were orange trees every where (In december). Japan is so nutty!.

We could see the ocean, sunshine and orange trees. Taking a break from the city was well needed. And just like that i could feel my bitternes fading away.

Shirahama is a smaller city with lots of hotels and ryokan(inns) situated on the rocky coast line that faces the pacific ocean. The main attraction in Shirahama is the white sand beach. The sand was actually imported from austraillia and its any ones guess how much that beach costs to maintain because sand just washes away with each wave that hits the shore.

We took the bus from the station a bit too far into the city and had to hike/backtrack towards our hotel. It was a good walk though cause it familirised us with the area. We got to our hotel and it looked a little dodgy from the outside. But the inside was great. All this fake renaissance period peice furniture, tropical carpets, every one in uniform. It was great. We couldn't check in till 3pm so we had some time to kill. We put our bags at the front desk, and got information on how to get to (EBIKI) we hiked in the typhoon strenght winds along the coast . It was real nice and sort of funny, we had to balance becaue the winds were so strong, they could almost knock us over. We got to the island and took lots of pictures and then made our way back to the city center, and to our hotel.

When we got in, we were so tired, we took a nap. Then we got up and put on out Yukatas (japanese robes) that came with the room and our slippers (geisha-like ones) and went to the bathing pools!!!
Our hotel had hotspring pools onsite. They were segregated by sex, and you have to shower off before you enter. They were awesome. In the biig room there were 4 pools. Each one different. One pool had slanted rock seats that you sit in and have jets built in and another had rocks and water falls. It was so nice. And to top it all off there were these scoopy buckets that allow you to pour the water on you to keep nice and toasty. And there was also another pool outside. The weirdest thing by far is that you have to be butt naked in the pools. I thinks its a good thing i cant understand much japanese because im sure there was talk when the naked black girl kept on running from pool to pool and dunking herself in each one. (i couldnt help it, the whole place was so nice, you cant just sit in one!).

After the spa fiasco, we changed back into our Yukatas, and went for dinner (P.S. We are naked under our yakatas). So that was funny. We had to sit properly and make sure there was minimal flashing. Our dinner was fantastic. Our trip package came with dinner and breakfast included, so we were lead to a table that was reserved for us, and it was already set with our dinner on it.
Dinner was BOOMBASTIC!. There was, nabe ( a seafood hot pot), tempura stuff, sashimi, escargot, little finger foods, dumplings, miso soup, rice, dessert, this weird egg dish ( i couldnt eat it, shiv did though), pickled goods, dessert, steamed fish, mushrooms..... it was great. After dinner we sat in our room, stuffed and watched crazy japanese TV.

The next day we got ready a little late and missed out on the free breakfast. We were a little peeved, but decided to be positive and start out on our adventure. We took the bus, to sandanbecki cliffs. This huge cliff tourist area. Its also a populat suicide point. There are signs that warn of this as well. It was sooo windy. I stayed in the interpretive center and chatted to one of the staff. She had learned englsih on a home stay in austraillia and was a nanny there too. We talked for quite a bit and I also made an english sign for the center “ Internet free for public use- be courteous and share the computers” i was quite proud of my self. So if any one goes to Sandanbecki Japan and sees a sign hanging over the computers, i did that. Just think it could have said “ Free time computer-all people use short time please”.

Yes, i help in what ways i can.
Next we hiked to Senjo-jiki a crazy horizontal cliffed place that happened to be even windier than the previous cliff. Odd! Next, was my most favorite part of the trip. We went to Sakinoyu open air hopspring. It was great. The hotspring is built right into the cliffs, and huge waves from the pacific actually hit the rocks and some of the cold water comes into the lower pools of the hotspring.
The hotsprings are actually 3 separate pools, each one higher than the next, and facing the angry pacific. The veiw was surreal and the water was soooo hot. The pools are separated into mens and womens pools. And you undress in a covered area, that is still outside. So its so cold. PS there was blowing snow in shirahama that morning, so you can understand that it was not warm weather. Especially undressing outside. But jumping into almost boiling water will fix most any cold day. an Intersting point of the day was that japanese women seem to like to talk about foreingners beheind their backs. Another interesting point of the day was that i met another foreigner emily collins (a british jet teacher from a small mountain town) and we talked for what seemed like hours in the pool. So it was nice to have some one else to talk to, and the japanese women must have had a field day talking about both of us beheind our backs. Great day over all though. I cant explain how nice it is to talk in english with some one, about everything and anything. Its like music to your ears in japan. Especially when 99% of the people you see and meet only speak japanese, its great to talk about movies, work, homesickness, food, tv shows with someone who knows what your talking about. That is indeed priceless.

Got the bus to the JR train station in shirahama, ate some super good okonomiyaki and made our way home. The trip rejuvinated us in many ways. Some days work is really trying and boring and you just dont want to be there. And it gets us in a down mood. But going to shirahama made me realize that If is wasnt in japan, if i wasnt teaching english i wouldnt get to experience the hotsprings, see the pools, meet new people and etc.... having this job is hard some times, but i have to see the positives in working in japan. We will never fit in here, and we know that, but japan has alot to show us, and we have been really lucky to experence japan comfortably. Working is a means to our end: wich is experiencing a new place, traveling and learning more about ourselfs and our surroundings. Work is sucky some days, and so good other days, but with out it we wouldnt have our train passes, our apartment, our vacations and all of our adventures.

This trip was so good, because it opened up our eyes to how lucky we are to be here, have each other as adventure parteners and have a comfy place to come home to.

Happy new year guys. Dont forget to think about what your thankful for.
Love jan and shiv!!

ps summ and minu we miss you guys! the pictures are of the dinner, us in our yukata's (in a japanese stlye hotel room), and our hike around the coast near shirahama.

christmas is for the lovers....

So hello every one. Even though its new years eve day. I will back up this blog just a bit to recap how our holidays were here in osaka.

First, to set the scene, christmas time in Osaka is not as festive as it is back home. There are lots of decorations and christmas music blaring in the malls. But i would have to say it the season here lacks a little...Je ne sai qua? I think the word im looking for is authenticity. Christmas is a adopted commercial holiday here. So any weird christmas traditions or any interesting christmas decorations have all some how jumped ship, crossed the atlantic and ended up here in japan. Many of my students have talked about getting a big chicken for christmas dinner, and asked me if I have chicken for christmas. Here in japan, Its super popular to have KFC for christmas dinner. People also give/ buy christmas cakes. In my opinion I think this tradition could have evolved from seeing lots of x mas baking in movies or TV. But for lack of huge ovens to bake in (In most apartments there is a flat grill oven, that can cook flat things like fish, burgers, frozen okonomiyaki) many people dont bake cookies or things like that. They buy these elaborate christmas cakes. They are like devils food cake or angel food cake but with crazy pretty icing on them. You can buy these every where. From highend department store deli's (like at Tacahimaya) to the neighbourhood conveinence store (family mart). One of our friends from work, Sabrina, is lucky enough to have an oven in her house and for christmas day, she brought in all types of baking. Like gingerbread cookies shaped like stockings, shortbread stars etc. It was great.

What was not so great with the holidays was the insame wave of home sickness that hit me and shiv over the holidays. I was quite bitter going to work on christmas. In the back of my head i have this colonial superiority in my thinking that every where, every one should celebrate christmas the exact way as it's done in north america. But thats a silly thought to have. Because Japan in a secular country and Christmas day is just like every other day. Its a working day. So off to work we went on Christmas day. The day started off great though, me and shiv got up nice and early to open our gifts, and we got to wear our new stuff from Uni Qlo ( new fave shop) to work. But i was in a horrid mood. I was feeling very home sick, on the verge of tears all day, and i wanted none of my lessons to show up today. But to my dismay, each and every student showed up for lesson. And to my grand irritation, every student was in the most chipper of moods. I was so irritated. After lunch though, I tried to buck up and be alittle bit more cheery, and the day started to go better. All of my students wanted to know about christmas in Canada. And i even had one student who made me laugh pretty hard. Here's the dialouge

Jan: So, its christmas today. How bout you choose the lesson. We can learn about any thing that you want to learn about
Student: ......................
Jan: Anything, pick a subject and I'll make up an english lesson for you
Student: what number is that
Jan: No, its not a number. You can choose what you want to do today.
Student: Oh! ok. You choose teacher
Jan: Ok. How bout we do a lesson on Christmas
Student: I hate Christmas
Jan: Why?
Student: Because christmas is for the lovers.

As shiv says, you cant make this stuff up. Thats what she said and man i started laughing. But she was dead serious. Christmas here is not about spending time with family and friends, Giving gifts and getting fat. Its all about spending time with your significant other (girlfriend/boyfriend) getting gifts from them and going on dates to christmas locations in and around the city. If you have a family, some japanese might get gifts for the children. Some students i talked to got one joint family gift; like a tv or trip to some where nice. But over all. Christmas is like she said “for the lovers”.

But im very lucky that im here in japan with my “lover” shiv. I was as bitter last week as a case load of lemons. And he's always tried to make me see the bright side of the situation. This past week was really bad, and i do belive christmas day was the hardest.

After work, we went out with friends to Shakeys for all you can eat pizza, and boy was that good. Then after that we set out to find Murpheys Irish Pub. It was hard to find, and we lost Dom and Kim on the way there. But in the end we found it and it was quite quaint, very irish and over priced. A piny of guinness was 800 yen. And a tiny cocktail 750 yen. They were serving Christmas dinner at murpheys too, steak and kidney pie, chicken, veggies, gravy and a drink for 2500 yen. Very over priced in my books.

But alas, we had to leave Murpheys 1) because i was in a grumpy mood and 2) zeev and Ania's train was due to arrive at our train station in about 20 minutes. It has been so nice having them say with us. Zeev ( or lord Zeevius as he likes to be called) is shivs friend from back in shivs grant macewan days. He was also the usher at our wedding. Him and Ania were doing a semester of university in Japan and now that its over, They are doing some traveling around japan. Such a treat to have people over for the holidays. It makes the house feel that much more christmasy. And thats what the season is all about...