Takamatsu North JHS Speech Contest 2012

On September 22nd 2012, I atteneded the annual Takamatsu North Speech Contest for junior high school students. This was my second time at this event, as I'd also been along to my first one shortly after arriving in Japan in my first year. At that time, I had trained four (!) students from both Katsuga JHS and Shimokasai JHS. This year, however, I was focussed on just two from Katsuga, which gave me a lot more time to focus on them individually.

My team from Katsuga Junior High School consisted of Fujimoto-san for the recitation contest and Inoue-san for the written speech contest (I had trained Inoue-san the previous year as one of my four students, where she had previously participated in the recitation event). Fujimoto-san gave a rendition of the children's tale "The Giving Tree" (which is a bit bleak!), while Inoue-san gave a speech about her decision to pursue membership of the brass band club at the expense of her swimming.

Both did an excellent job, with Fujimoto-san coming in second place in her category. I was incredibly pleased with the result!

Kobe Ferry Trip

Taking photos on the Kobe ferry with my Canon 60D.

Credit for this shot has to go to Mary Thanh Vo.

A Kagawa JET tradition which has run for many years is the Kobe Ferry Trip, where the group gets themselves on one of the ferries from Takamatsu to spend the day or night in Kobe.

The year I arrived, however, this annual event was called off due to a typhoon warning. Luckily, it came back around the following September, and so I was keen to get myself on board.

Chatting with the ALTs.

The times for the ferries are a tad unfortunate, as the first leaves around six in the morning (!) and the second in the early afternoon. This is because the ferry takes around three-to-four hours or so to arrive, so you either arrive in the late morning or you arrive in the early evening. A small group decided to head out in the early morning to go and do some hiking on a local mountain area in Kobe, while a second group (which included myself) planned to head out on the afternoon ferry and join them in the evening.

Getting ready to depart. Slightly sweaty.

It was a terribly hot day, and I was already sweating pretty badly by the time I arrived at the bus stop next to Takamatsu-chikko station that would transfer us to the ferry port. Plenty of water was consumed by myself before we had even departed.

The ferry trip makes up the bulk of the excitement on this trip, and is intended as an easy way for people just to spend time with each other. The facilities were very comfortable, and it was a very relaxing experience. Upon departing, we made our way directly up to the roof, where we enjoyed the sea breeze and took plenty of photographs. We sailed around and saw plenty of the Seto inland sea islands, including making a brief stop at Shodoshima (where we acquired a few extra ALTs for the trip).

Islands in the Seto Inland Sea.

Mary Thanh Vo photos the scenes.

(A lot of the photos on this entry were taken by her!)

Justin's hair was fairly noteworthy at times on this trip.

Pose to sell bottled water.

The downstairs facilities were equally as comfortable. Lounges were provided, as were an amusement arcade, sleeping area and cafe / bar area. My fellow JETs and I ordered some Sanuki udon (of course) followed by ice creams. Mostly, we just sat down in the lounge area and enjoyed playing card and iPad games (including a two-player Fruit Ninja HD tournament - outstanding).

We're on a boat! With Lorriane, Justin, Ryan and Mary.

Hugs!

When we arrived in Kobe, it was already the early evening and night had come in. We took taxis through the town to meet the other ALTs at a famous Brazilian meat restaurant on the water front; Brasiliano, in the MOSAIC building.

Brasiliano.

Looking bewildered at the steps of MOSAIC.

As the other ALTs made their way inside, Mary and I stood on the balcony for a while and took photographs of the beautiful waterfront area. There was plenty to see, and I regretted that I wouldn't be staying longer in Kobe to explore some of these areas and see them up close. The unique buildings were a gorgeous spectacle, and it was difficult to tear myself away from photographing them.

The waterfront in Kobe.

Some sort of party takes place on the veranda.

Stunning.

The other ALTs were knackered from their day of walking, but we had an amazing all-you-can eat dinner with cheerful Brazilian men coming over to the table and cutting off countless cuts of meat.

The seasoning on the meat was - without exaggeration - some of the best I'd ever had. It was an incredible meal with great company, and we stayed until we were the last people in the restaurant; the food was so good, we simply didn't want to leave! I absolutely, completely recommend this place if you want to have some Brazilian food in Japan.

Fannying around with Justin and Luke.

After dinner, we had a brief stop in town at an area affectionately known as "Tits Park" (or Oppai Kouen), due to the mounds in the ground that local a bit like, er, breasts. It's right next to Hankyu station in Sannomiya.

Sitting on a "tit", apparently.

When we arrived, the area was full of young people, and there appeared to be some sort of live music event which had been casually put together. The crowds were drinking their beers while musicians casually strummed guitars on the Saturday evening. It was a very relaxed affair which we simply strolled into, taking up a seat on one of the "tits". As an added bonus, I ran into an ALT I'd met on my time water-rafting in Tokushima on the WhyNot trip back in May; Andrew Foley, an Irish ALT who I'd gotten on immensely well with at the time. It was great to chat to him and the local Kobe JETs in the area, though sadly we couldn't stay very long.

Drinking in "Tits Park".

Justin's hair was certainly noteworthy.

After this small rest, it was pretty much an immediate journey back to the ferry port. We would be taking the night ferry back to Takamatsu, arriving in the early hours of the morning. A lot of the ALTs who had been hiking in the morning were knackered by this point, and passed out almost immediately on board. It wasn't long before most of us were doing the same thing.

We were woken up just as the first dawn was breaking in Takamatsu. It felt like a long journey home that morning, with very little sleep behind me. Still, I stopped off at a McDonalds on the way to treat myself to one of their breakfast McMuffin sets. Even though I'm trying to enjoy as much Japanese culture as I can, some things remain simply essential.

Konpira-san, Kotohira

At the top of the Konpira-san trail.

At the end of August last year, I still had three days of summer leave to take before the next school term kicked off in September. I'd originally been planning on using this time to pop over to Hong Kong, but it became apparent that I'd left it perhaps a little too late, and that this would no longer be a plausible option by the end of the month.

So, I simply took the last three days of the month off. Again, I thought about spending those days and the weekend doing a little five-day island tour around the Seto inland sea, but decided ultimately that a better way to spend my time was finishing off the edit on a long-standing film project of mine. You can see the fruits of that labour in the form of Fatal Attractions, which you can watch on YouTube here (you can also read about it on my Film Blog here). After two days of solid editing which finished off the film, I decided to treat myself on the Friday by heading off to Kotohira and finally visiting the famous mountain of Konpira-san.

The streets of Kotohira.

Kotohira is only about an hour away on the local train line for me, and had long been on my personal hit-list for staying in Kagawa. It's a small town which contains a famous mountain, which houses Shikoku's most iconic shrine; Konpira-san. The shrine actually houses elements of both Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, but was offiically declared to be a shrine during the Meiji Period. It's dedicated to sailors and seafarers, and is one of the most popular in all of Japan. Many other ALTs had recommended it to me, and I decided to spend a day experiencing it for myself.

Approaching the shrine is a daunting task, said to be one of the most grueling in all of Japan. A total of uphill 1368 steps stand between the traveller and their ultimate destination at the inner Okusha shrine. A daunting challenge in the intense summer heat of Kagawa, but I was very much up for it.

Beginning the climb.

Getting to the shrine in the first place initially seemed tricky, as I wasn't quite sure where to go from the station. A few other pedestrians were heading in the right direction, though, and I quickly stumbled upon arrows and signs leading me along the correct way. I accessed the path by heading through a very deserted (and small) shopping street, and was certain that I was heading the wrong way, but it turned out to be correct as the plentiful numbers of travellers at the exit of the arcade soon confirmed.

The shrine was very busy when I first arrived, and I was surprised to see that the start of the journey was predominantly lined with tourist shops and restaurants near the bottom of the shrine. I stopped at one of the stalls on my ascent to buy a drink from a local vendor, as I was already starting to sweat in the intense heat. I had one heck of a journey ahead of me, and I'd stocked up with two bottles of water, but I wanted to keep them for the climb rather than wasting them when I didn't need to.

Juice break.

The path to the main hall.

I carried on up the path, surrounded by plenty of other people with the same idea. It was quite a crowded ascent, and the steps weren't too steep at this point - the biggest challenge was simply the heat. It wasn't long before I was sipping on the first bottle of water as sweat began to drip down my head. Still, I pushed on.

Steps. So many steps.

After about three quarters of an hour, I arrived at the main hall of the shrine. At first, I thought I'd reached my destination, and suddenly I thought; "Huh, that wasn't so bad." Plenty of other tourists had stopped and were taking photographs, and there was a beautiful ledge to stop and take photographs of the area surrounding Kotohira from. I was feeling rather pleased with myself, thinking that the challenge hadn't been too difficult at all. I hadn't realized, of course, that I had only climbed up the first 785 steps. I had reached the finishing point for a lot of people, but the true peak of the shrine lay another 583 steps ahead of me.

The Main Hall area.

A view of Kotohira.

It wasn't long before I realised my error, and saw the narrow path that was slightly concealed from view at the far side of the main hall. I would guess more than a few people who have turned back here have simply failed to realise that there is more to the journey, and haven't spotted the path continuing on to the far side of the main hall. After stopping to take plenty of photographs and more water, I carried on up the path.

The path continues.

This time, the route was much quieter. There were very few people around, and the steps were much steeper and overrun with vegetation. It was immediately clear that this route was much less well travelled, as the forest on each side of the path swelled and closed in on all sides, with the sky mostly visible by looking directly above rather than through the thick trees. It was also much more scenic and beautiful than the path I had travelled up until now. It was a much more intimate experience, even with the few other travellers who were trickling down around me as they descended from the path.

The walk to the top.

More stairs.

I took a short video from my time climbing this section, and you can see here just how hot I'm feeling from all of the heat (you can also hear quite a few cicadas). I swear that's the genuine sound of my footsteps, and that I didn't force the sound at all.

I soon realized that I had run out of water - despite bringing two full bottles with me! It was unfortunate, as I wasn't sure how much more I would still have to climb, but I decided to push on anyway. I was so close to the summit, and despite the heat I wasn't feeling too dehydrated. I carried on, and made it into the highest shrine only about twenty minutes later. All in all, the journey had taken me about an hour and a half.

At the inner shrine.

The "inner" shrine up here was absolutely lovely. It was a very small area, only a few feet across in each direction, with a small area for Shinto practitioners to pray. There was a small shop next to the shrine, where a man sold traditional Shinto trinkets; it wasn't tacky, and the objects on sale were all traditionally Japanese omamori (a kind of charm) and similar items. I picked up a couple of these as gifts, then sat back and just enjoyed the atmosphere.

 
The view from the top.

 The small shop in the shrine.

It was incredibly peaceful up there. Every now and then, a couple or a few people would arrive and pray at the shrine, but mostly it was very quiet save for myself and the shopkeeper. It was a uniquely tranquil place.

A man comes to pray at the shrine and admire the view.

At one point, two local travellers were pointing up at something on the cliff wall above me. I followed their direction and found a couple of small, concealed demon faces in the wall. Yet another subtle feature of this beautiful area, and very easy to miss.

Faces in the wall.

I stayed at the top of the shrine for a while as I got my breath back and enjoyed the atmosphere. However, night was starting to set in, and there was an ALT event back in Takamatsu that evening that I didn't want to be too late for. I stood up and casually made my way back down the mountain. The light stroll in the evening was much more steadily paced than my journey to the top, and I couldn't help but keep stopping repeatedly in order to take photographs of all the newly lit paper lanterns.

Beautiful.

Arriving at the base of the mountain, the once densely populated tourist area was cleared out completely by the time I arrived at the bottom. It felt like a ghost town; an almost eerie sensation, but also quite peaceful. I couldn't believe the contrast from earlier on in the day.

Peace and quiet.

I found a quiet little local restaurant where I popped in for a very traditional Japanese dinner, before jumping on the train back to Takamatsu.