Curry Nights at Thali Spice

Dinner at Thali Spice in 2012.

Something of a tradition here for the Kagawa JETs. Usually on Thursday evenings, almost every week, members of the foreign community in Takamatsu (and the nearby area) descend on the Thali Spice restaurant in the Shotengai shopping streets. It's a Nepalese and Indian restaurant, and it's damned good.

This tradition mostly started by having dinners with departed-ALTs Jasper Wood and Danny Blackwell, as well as Arran Chambers. The four of us would frequently meet during Jasper and Danny's time in Japan, occasionally joined by a few other people. In addition to that, I often found myself coming along with non-JET American Sam Jones, where we'd often get together and talk movie reviews or just hang out with a group. Eventually these traditions just sort of stuck, Thursday after Thursday.

With Matt Katch (left) and Sam Jones.

And so, as more and more foreigners have started to come more and more frequently, the restaurant finds itself full of foreigners nigh-on every Thursday night. With good reason, too; the curries are exceptional.

My traditional set.

For my own part, I'm afraid I'm not usually terribly adventurous; I usually get the same meal every time I go, because I enjoy it so much. In actual fact, the waiters can repeat my order back to me before I even give it these days (which may give you an indication of how often I go there). I almost always getting the mutton masala, spice level three, with a huge butter naan bread and a lassie to drink. At least I'm consistent.

I have to say, it will be a sad day when I finally leave Japan and I won't be able to have any more of these curries again. Until then, well, expect to see me there on Thursdays.

Movie review madness.

Round One

One of the places our place of JETs frequently visits in Takamatsu is 'Round One'.

There are several 'Round One' venues across Japan, and if the one in Takamatsu is anything to go by, then they're all quite incredible.

The 'Round One' in Takamatsu consists of several floors of entertainments and amusements. The lower floors are filled with slot machines and pachinko, while a little further up is a full bowling alley complete with several lanes. Slightly above that is a full rollerskating rink, along with a whole host of video-game arcade machines and air hockey (there must be at least more than fifty in there - all free when included in the price of entry). Above that, you'll find a pool hall and a massage lounge, spa, and (I think) a gym, which is all next to one of those fake bulls that you can ride before falling off onto an inflatable floor.

Above that, you'll find a huge sports hall. This includes a football pitch, a badminton and tennis net, mini-golf, a pool for fishing in, a baseball practice area and basketball hoops. Oh, and a driving range for golfers, among many other things.

As you can imagine, it's an amazing place to spend an evening. If there's any criticism, it's that the food isn't quite so great.

On Friday 4th October, we visited 'Round One' as part of fellow ALT Gary Wilkinson's birthday celebrations for his girlfriend Risako. As you can tell from these photographs, we had a fantastic time, though I'm afraid I barely captured even a fraction of what's available there.

Snake!

Eep.

The Japanese Rat Snake.

Arriving at school yesterday morning, I encountered a wild snake in Japan for the very first time.

I'd just arrived at Kinashi Elementary School when the serpent made it's appearance. The students typically arrive about an hour before I do to play sports in the morning, and so by this point they were all inside the school. I was by myself in the grounds as I wheeled my bike around to the staff bike sheds. The snake was directly in front of me, about six foot long, and slithering beneath the wheels of the other bikes. It was only when I was about three feet away from it that I finally spotted it, and I froze completely with fear.

The snake was moving away from me, luckily, and while undoubtedly it had seen me it seemed to take no interest. It continued to move under the bikes until it left the shed and made it's way towards some bushes by the ball. When it was finally several feet away, I quickly locked my bike down and walked very cautiously back to the school, keeping my eyes on it until I was a good distance away.

I reported the snake to the school, and whatever happened next took place without my knowledge as I had to teach classes throughout the first two periods. Whatever happened, the snake must have left the premises, but as is often the case in Japan I wasn't given any more information than that. I was thanked later in the day by the school principle for reporting it, and they told me that it was apparently quite a big one. I hope that it caught rather than simply spotted leaving, or else just assumed to have left. The Kinashi area is full of rows and rows of beautiful bonsai trees, and it would be incredibly easy for a snake to hide in amongst them.

The bonsai fields in Kinashi.

Certain snakes are particularly dangerous in Japan, including the infamous mamushi (the Japanese pit viper) that occasionally pops up around rural areas Kagawa. Mamushi are notorious for (according to Wikipedia) attacking around 2000-3000 people a year, having severely powerful venom that can take up to a week in hospital to be treated for, and which kills several people every year who can't handle it. I had no knowledge of what snake it was at the time, but it certainly doesn't appear to fit the description of the mamushi. It seems far more likely that what I saw was a Japanese rat snake, which is apparently non-venomous. Still bloody terrifying, though.

I'd gone two years without having seen a snake, yet I'd come within very close distance of one and had taken quite the shock at the time. I'll certainly be keeping my eyes peeled on the ground whenever I visit more rural areas in Kagawa again!

JLPT N5 Victory!

Great news, folks!

I recently mentioned that I had taken the JLPT N5 exam for the second time back in July. My results arrived yesterday, and I can now confirm that I passed.

I'm very pleased to have a wee qualification in Japanese. Obviously, N5 is the lowest level, but it's definitely a nice place to start and great to have a small sense of achievement regarding my time here in Japan. I'll probably attempt to do the subsequent level (N4) in the future, too.

Very pleased, and thank you to everyone who sent me their regards concerning this exam.

Rainbows over Takamatsu

Rainbows!

Following my shakuhachi practice on Saturday afternoon, I made my way over to Angie's house for dinner. Stepping off the train, I was greeted two beautiful rainbows that had appeared in the last ten minutes over the sky.

Pretty.

I stood on the platform getting pictures, and continued to stop and snap as I made my way towards Angie's house. This was the first time I had seen rainbows in Japan, and it really was quite striking. As I mentioned in my previous post, the weather has been somewhat inconsistent recently with the rainy season, but this was one of the benefits as the day shifted from sunshine to storm.

Shortly after the rainbows began, a thunder and lightning storm broke out, so I hurried my way over to Angie's and watched the rainbow fade inside. A brief interlude of natural beauty for what has been a fairly poor cycle of weather.

While I've mentioned it, I may as well show off Matthew's new yukata, purchased for our upcoming shakuhachi concert and worn to practice today. Pretty nifty!

Groovy.

25th Birthday Fish Fry!

First published: 24 Jun 2013

Tamara and a ridiculous quantity of fish.

Following the very successful dinner I had for my birthday with a small party, my shakuhachi buddy Tamara and her husband Nick were kind enough to host a fish fry party on their rooftop the next day. Tamara had somehow acquired an abundance of fresh fish at a ridiculously cheap rate, and had volunteered to host the event as a continuation of my birthday celebrations with a wide group of ALTs. I was more than happy to oblige!

Takashi, Akane and crew.

Drinking and merriment.

Sayuri, Olya, Matt and I compete to make the strangest face.

With no less than fourteen (!) big fish and a buffet of additional food people had brought along, everyone was very well-fed. Most people shared fish in pairs, with myself naturally doubling up with Angie. They were pretty damn tasty, though I'm not sure what the exact name of the fish was! The night was initially fairly rainy, but luckily Tamara and Nick had assembled a parasol, and the rain disappeared fairly rapidly. iPhones were hooked up to the speaker system for music, and I was greeted with more gifts from more friends. There was drinking aplenty until the early hours (upon which we moved onto the Amazon bar in town).

 Angie and Lily.

Duck-face blues.

I'm not a fan.

Shit gets real. Too much duck-face.

One thing worth noting is that everyone in our foreign community is now desensitized to eating fish with the heads attached. Back home, this would be a big source of contention for a lot of people in a lot of Western countries. Here, however, the habit has become so habitual that it doesn't garner a moment's thought. It's interesting to note the horrified reaction many folk (mostly girls, I have to admit) have when I show them photographs of the fish we eat here.

Matt enjoys his fish.

The Bench Press of Doom

Oh God...

I'll preface this post simply by saying that I may be a bit of an idiot.

During my first few months in Japan (back in Autumn 2011), I was regularly attending the Konami Sports Centre gym with fellow ALTs Arran Chambers and Edwin Davies (from England). The three of us would go a couple of nights a week for weight training purposes, and we had quite a bit of fun! The problem was that it was also a tad expensive, and for most of us travelling back and forward was a bit inconvenient. Arran found a gym closer to his home, while Edwin decided he wanted to focus more on his Japanese study. I found myself going solo, and so, I cancelled my membership, looking elsewhere to find exercise.

A good deal seemed to come my way in the form of a equipment being sold by someone who previously owned a gym. As the gym was closing down, the resources were being sold off privately. I was introduced by Justin Bussies to the seller, who I agreed to buy a multi-purpose bench press / weight-lifting unit from. I figured it would pay for itself in no time on the money I'd saved in gym membership alone. It arrived while I was in Hiroshima, and I came home to... this at my front door.

Damn you, Justin.

The doorway was covered in gear, and it took around about an hour to (somehow) get it all back inside (bearing in mind that I'd just returned from a trip to Hiroshima). It was a bit of a nightmare, and in the morning I very quickly realized that my flat was far too small to store it. Over the next few weeks, the unit was assembled with the help of Rainer Wessels, but the two of us ascertained that what we had created was almost unusable in the small space I had.

Despite my best efforts, getting use out of it simply wasn't practical, as it dominated the floor space of my small flat no matter what arrangement I tried. Feeling a bit stuck, I tried to find a seller among the ALT community (to no avail). I decided to wait it out and try again in the summer community when the new JETs arrived, but again, no one was interested. I eventually learned to live with it, and simply found myself stacking books and such on top of it without even giving it much of a thought. Most of the visitors to my flat were shocked by what they saw dominating it.

With the arrival of the new year, I made a renewed effort to get rid of it. Due to the sheer size and weight of it, I discovered I had to pay to get rid of it through the official city garbage disposal, and without a car (or a Japanese driving license) I had no way of giving it to a seller. Shipping was out of the question due to the sheer weight and price involved, and I was still keen to get a buyer locally. I had some interest from sole local second hand retailers, but ultimately nothing panned out. I didn't want to lose any more money on it, and so eventually, I decided to cut my losses and simply offer it for free to anyone who wanted it. Again, almost no interest - especially since almost nobody could come and pick it up.

And there was I, stuck with it in my flat.

These weights took up considerable space under my bed.

Finally, in March, salvation came in the form of my good friend Junko (who often comes to my eikaiwa). Junko's friend (who goes by the nickname "Johnny" despite being Japanese) was looking to get back into shape, and she'd told him about the bench. He came around hoping to pick it up, on the condition that it would fit in his house. Knowing the severe space limitations I'd had myself, I was really hoping he'd be able to take it.

Junko and Johnny popped round with some of their friends on a Sunday afternoon, and - luckily - Johnny confirmed that it would be perfect. Angie and I helped lift all of the gear into their cars, slowly disassembling the unit piece by piece. As the room began to gradually clear, I was amazed at how much space I'd suddenly began to claim back. At last, when the final pieces were packed away, I had my room back - and I couldn't believe I'd lived in such a confined space for so long. I inevitably made a loss in getting rid of the bench, but I was more than happy just to get my living space back. It felt like it had tripled.

Angie and I spent the rest of the afternoon with Junko and her friends at Rie Karato's house, where we spent the afternoon drinking tea and practicing origami with the kids. It was a nice little end to a horrific year-long saga of self-imposed boxing-in.

Cakes and origami.

I suppose all's well that ends well, but I learned a very important lesson; never invest in anything unless you're certain you have the space for it!

Retro Gaming in Japan: Pikachu N64 & New Sega Saturn

As I said in my earlier post on the subject, I acquired a Japanese Sega Saturn last year. I'd subsequently acquired both a Japanese Nintendo 64 (as a birthday present from American ALT Kayla Alberedo), and a Japanese PS2 (from departing Scottish ALT Richard Kinsella). Things were seemed to be going fairly well on the retro gaming front... until both the Sega Saturn and N64 had suffered system failures.

After a long time tinkering with both consoles, trying to exchange the power supplies and replacing internal batteries and such, I conceded defeat. Something had gone wrong with both of them, and I wasn't technically minded enough to work out what. Although I take good care of my consoles, the Sega Saturn is sadly notorious for system failures, while the N64 had never worked at all since I'd acquired it. Working out where console repairs could be carried out in Japan for these (pretty old) systems seemed fairly beyond me. The only solution, then, was to pick up replacements.

The Pikachu console!

The new N64 sits by the old Sega Saturn.

I left it for a while as it wasn't an immediate purchase priority, but with the start of the new year I headed along to Hard Off; a huge second-hand retailer near my house which I was introduced to last year by Rainer Wessels (you can watch my reaction to our first trip there below):

I came back home not just with replacements to both consoles, but an amazing prize I couldn't believe I'd stumbled upon; a rare Pikachu-edition Nintendo 64.

The console was buried under a number of other N64 units. I was flicking through them all to find the best-looking model when I stumbled upon it, complete with most of it's original packaging. I was aghast when I saw it; especially as it was only around ¥3000 (!). It was instantly added to my list of purchases, and I carried both consoles home - hoping that neither of them were damaged or worn down. Luckily, both booted up perfectly.

I was thrilled to finally be playing Mario Kart 64 and all of my old Saturn games again, and to own a pretty rare and funky piece of Pokemon memorabilia. I spent the following evening doing much else except playing classic video-games.

Super Mario 64 in action.

However, I'm still trying to work out how I can repair my older consoles (if it's at all possible), as I'd love to restore them back to their original form rather than let them simply gather dust. If anyone could point me in the right direction of any restoration or repair services for them in Japan, I'd love to hear your suggestions!

Learning the Shakuhachi

The Shakuhachi: a classical Japanese instrument,
pictured with some Japanese tea and sheet music.

As mentioned in an earlier blog post, I did a small presentation in March on the subject of Scotland at Kagawa IPAL (the international centre in Takamatsu). I spoke to a local community group about my country, it's history and it's culture. The group was run by a man named Anabuki-sensei; a retired English teacher and a shakuhachi enthusiast. As a thank you for my participation in his group, he asked if I would like to start learning how to play the shakuhachi under his tutelage. I readily accepted.

 

Standing with my shakuhachi teacher, Anabuki-sensei. 

The shakuhachi is a traditional Japanese instrument, a type of large flute normally constructed with bamboo. Based on the style of Chinese bamboo flutes that came over to Japan in the sixth century, the Japanese have developed the concept independently into it's own distinct instrument. It has long been associated with Zen Buddhism, and the concept of Suizen: a form of blowing meditation practiced by the Fuke sect of Zen Buddhists. Shakuhachi are often played alongside koto and shamisen, two other famous Japanese instruments.

 My shakuhachi teacher: Anabuki-sensei.

A kind man, generous with his time and patience.

With a long history intertwined with the history of Japan, the instrument is a distinct cultural artifact of Japan, and perhaps somewhat obscure in the West. Having a chance to practice this instrument offered a fascinating insight into authentic Japanese culture and history, and I was very keen to have the opportunity to learn how to play it.

Shakuhachi sheet music. Unlike the Western style of writing music,

these compositions are written from right to left, top to bottom,

and use a series of Japanese katakana to denote distinct sounds.

Almost every weekend (since around the start of May), I head on over to Anabuki-sensei's house near Enza station in Takamatsu City to practice playing the shakuhachi. It can be quite a trek to get there - around a forty minute cycle, or a bus / train ride combination that takes around an hour. As we usually practice in the early morning, it can be quite difficult to force myself out of my bed (especially on a Saturday morning!), but learning the shakuhachi has been a challenging and rewarding experience thus far. I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

 Anabuki-sensei performs while Tamara takes a snap.

My shakuhachi companions: Matthew Wright and Tamara Thomas,

pictured with Anabuki-sensei.

Two of my friends also practice shakuhachi along with myself: Matthew Wright and Tamara Thomas. Matthew is a former JET from England who teaches business English in Takamatsu, while Tamara is an English teacher from Jamaica who teaches English to younger children. Of course, as we all have differing schedules, it can be hard to get us all together at the same time. However, practicing with them has been a great opportunity to get to know them both better, and I've thoroughly enjoyed their company.

 Matt admires the beautiful garden at Anabuki-sensei's house.

The incredible koi in Anabuki-sensei's garden.

As shakuhachi are traditionally very expensive, I have been practising with one Anabuki-sensei's own shakuhachi for the last few months. However, the time will come when I may need to invest in one of my own: a somewhat expensive purchase, but all the more reason to keep up the practice!

 Matt and Tamara stand with our gifts of home grown cucumbers

straight from Anabuki-sensei's garden.

Here's a link to a solo shakuhachi performance that I've listened to on YouTube. The instrument makes a very distinct sound, which may be familiar to Japan enthusiasts. I can't say I can play this well yet (I certainly have a long way to go), but this definitely a skill I aspire to grow and develop at throughout my time in Japan and beyond.

Enjoy!