Sports news in Japan

From the Mainichi Shinbun (Daily Newspaper)

"2 sumo wrestlers warned over lack of fighting spirit in bout"

The article goes on to explain that they were deemed to have been unintentionally lacking spirit, and therefore are only warned. The league retains the ability to punish them if they seem to be purposefully lacking spirit in the future. Things haven't ever escalated to that high a level before, though, so no need to be too concerned for these poor young men's careers.

An all new adventure... Dermatology

We had two big adventures today. The first one was the result of a little medical panic. Two weeks ago, a mosquito big me on the cheek while I was walking home. It itched like mad (as they do) and I did what I know better than to do and itched at it all the way home. The next morning, it had swollen up significantly. It looked like I had had dental work - or was suffering from the mumps. Luckily that was the beginning of the flu vacation week, so I just hid out at home and it eventually got better. Just about the time it stopped itching, though, I got another bite under my wedding ring. This was really aggravating. I knew I shouldn't itch at it (I had already learned the hard way) but it was driving me crazy. I was good for about a day, and then I took my ring off and really went at it. Of course, the next day I could barely get my ring off again.

I did manage to get the ring off, and there was a nasty red welt going all the way around my finger. I had learned my lesson, and left it alone no matter how badly it itched (and it really did itch badly). Then I was bitten AGAIN. This time I got two bites - one between each finger on the same hand as my new red wedding welt. Super! I fought the urge to itch for about five more days - but the funny thing was that the bites didn't get better. The welt on my finger started to look less angry, but it was still itching badly. The bites between my fingers were getting worse and worse and starting to look uncannily like poison oak. I started getting suspicious. Finally this morning, after an especially bad flare-up of itchiness, I decided I needed to go to the doctor. It had now been 10 days of these "bites" getting progressively worse. I had changed my diagnosis and was now convinced I had somehow come in contact with poison oak/ivy/sumac of some variety (though I had pretty much been isolated to my house for the flu week, and had only been at the school this last week...). I called my boss and asked where I should go to get the rash looked at. She recommended a dermatologist nearby, and even called them in advance to make sure of their hours, to explain the situation, and to ask if anyone there could muddle through with some English to help us. They gave her the green light, so Russell and I went over.

Now, we haven't exactly had to deal with any aspect of the medical system here in Japan, and we were pretty worried. Everything went surprisingly smoothly, though. When we arrived they immediately connected us with the phone call from my boss. The receptionist gave us some medical forms to fill out, so we got to work. I would have been totally lost at this point, but luckily, Russell was a champ and was able to translate everything with a few quick referrals to his dictionary. He was especially proud of himself for understanding the question about whether I was pregnant or nursing. It turns out he had just learned how to read that kanji from a beer advertisement on the train warning women not to drink alcohol while they were pregnant or nursing. Bonus points for being observant! The only question we weren't able to figure out was one that Russell translated as: "Do you have any hobbies/activities?" Like knitting? Grading papers? Russell checked the dictionary and it agreed with him, so we asked at the front. The receptionist explained that they were asking about activities like hiking that might lead to skin issues. Since we hadn't been up to any of that lately (alas) we marked "no."

Next adventure: talking TO the dermatologist. It turned out that he spoke a bit of English. At least, he certainly knew the names of a wide range of skin ailments in English - and he was quite willing to use whatever else he could to explain. He was relieved that Russell was pretty much able to hold the whole interview in Japanese, though, so we fell back to that. He looked my fingers over and took some skin samples. He checked with his microscope and determined that it was not a fungal infection (which I had also wondered about since it was between my fingers and under my ring), but he also didn't agree with my poison ivy assessment. What kind of ring had I been wearing? he wanted to know. White gold. Aha. Turns out I have developed an allergy to nickel. This won't surprise my mother (who is also allergic to nickel) but it sure as heck surprised me. I had been wearing the ring for, what? Three years now? Perhaps you as readers are more aware of this than I was, but yes, even after ten years, a person can develop an allergy to a ring. Unfortunately, that means I can't wear my wedding ring anymore. On the bright side, it means I get to buy a new, awesome, Japanese ring made of platinum to replace it. Score! This was, of course, the first thing Russell thought of as well. The dermatologist was very sympathetic.

All in all, the experience was very easy. Russell's Japanese was superb - not only getting the task done but allowing for some joking around with the doctor. Very well done. We got some ointment and some anti-itching pills and we were ready for our next adventure of the day: Back up Mount Maya!

Now, Russell and I hiked up Mount Maya before (I'm sure you all remember) and we promised we would never do it again. Don't worry. We didn't break our promise. This time, we took the cable car straight up and didn't bat an eye. We went with my boss and another co-worker. There is a group of American students coming from Pitzer University for a travel abroad program. They arrive in only a few weeks and one of the planned destinations is the Mount Rokko pastures, right next to Mount Maya. The pastures are a local attraction with all sorts of farm animals and farmy (pastoral? I like farmy better) activities (like making your own cheese, butter and ice cream). My boss had never been to the Rokko pastures before, and wanted to practice the trip before we dragged a bunch of students up the mountain. It turned out to be a good choice. We left at 3:00pm (a civilized hour by our standards) and by the time we had taken a bus to the cable car, ridden the cable car, and admired the view, there was only one bus left that went to the pastures. That was fine, we could still go, but there wouldn't be a bus to get us back. We talked it over and decided that the mile and a half walk was well within our capabilities. Unfortunately, the bus didn't leave for another twenty minutes - so, full of adventure, we just decided to start walking along the road and catch the bus at a later stop - it would be more fun than standing around for twenty minutes. Then, we realized there was a more beautiful trail through the woods. As I'm sure you can imagine, we missed the bus and had to walk all the way there. We didn't really mind, though, the weather was gorgeous - warm, but cool under the shade of the trees - and the scenery was beautiful. My co-worker (from Singapore) had never looked down on trees before, and was quite taken with the experience. Russell, who has been running on a fairly regular basis, too off hiking at a breakneck speed and wasn't seen again until we arrived at the pastures. Which were closed. It turned out they were closing an hour earlier than normal today because someone had booked the pastures for a wedding. At this point, we were a bit tired and more than a little disappointed. No ice cream... bah! We had, however, figured out that we should start earlier when we bring the students. We had missed the last bus back to the Maya cable car, so we took a bus to the much larger Rokko cable car and made our way back to the city.

Not to being the types to let our spirits down too long, we decided to get some dinner together. After the hike we were all peckish and ready for a good long sit. It turned out that my co-worker from Singapore lives near the bus stop where we got off, and she had been eyeing an okonomiyaki restaurant in her neighborhood for some time (but was intimidated about going alone). I have included a video on how to make okonomiyaki below. It is essentially a "pancake" made of vegetables, eggs and flour with various other meats included depending on taste. When you eat this at a restaurant you eat it off of a grill in the middle of the table that keeps it nice and piping hot. We decided to go to the restaurant for dinner. It turned out to be an excellent pick. I had been to two okonomiyaki restaurants before - the first on my first day of work when I went with some other co-workers. To be honest, while it was super tasty, it was way too rich for me. I decided I wasn't much of an okonomiyaki fan.



This was a problem, because Russell still really wanted to try it. We had seen it being made on a TV drama we both really liked, and it looked both fun and delicious. On the television program the main character explains in detail how to make the perfect okonomiyaki - he has a special way to stir the ingredients, a special way to pour them out onto the grill, and a special way to flip the result. He is very meticulous - and then, of course, is told by the owner of the establishment that all you really have to do is mix everything up and slap it on the grill, it all tastes the same. Russell was a little bit intimidated by the "mixing and flipping yourself" bit, but when he discovered that some restaurants do that for you, he was much more keen to try. We went to another restaurant and while Russell was pleased, this okonomiyaki was not only still not sitting well for me, it wasn't nearly as delicious. I was feeling the need to take Russell to yet another okonomiyaki place so he could see just how good it could be, but I never got around to it. The place we went to this afternoon, though, was ideal. It was lighter than the okonomiyaki I had had the first time, but it was still very high quality. There were three different styles to be had and they were all delicious. It was the perfect meal after a hike. I had mochi and shrimp in mine - the mochi was a bit of an adventure for me - I had only had it in desserts previously - but it was excellent. It added to the texture without adding to the richness. Two thumbs up.

Swine Flu Update

This will have to be brief (and sorry, no pictures).

We made it through our "flu vacation" as the students dubbed it, and are back to school. There is still swine flu around, but Japan - or at least Kobe - has become bored with the disease after relatively slow spread and no fatalities. The whole panic has been chalked up to overreaction and media hype. You can't even find mention of swine flu in the newspapers anymore (even though it seems to still be spreading). Of course, it is probably big news in communities that are seeing it for the first time, but after a week, Kobe is desensitized. This, of course, means I now have to actually write the midterm exams I put off for an extra week. Damn.

Of course, people are still being somewhat cautions - but not to the same degree. Masks are almost back to normal levels (maybe still a bit elevated in usage) and schools are all back on. There haven't been any cases of swine flu at our school, but there was one at a neighboring school, so the administration is still on guard. The rubbing alcohol is still stationed at all major entrances and we are expected to sanitize our hands before we enter the building. There are also cups available in the bathroom for gargling.

One good thing that came out of the scare (for me) is that I discovered that yes, I can walk all the way to work - and it doesn't take that much longer than public transport. After waiting for and taking the train and then a bus, the commute is usually about 40 minutes door to door. Walking, it takes me about an hour and 10 minutes - not to mention I feel all tough for the rest of the day and I get to enjoy watching the ocean as I walk over the bridge to the island I work on. I'm sure I'll be giving this venture up when the weather turns muggy, but for the time being its pretty awesome.

Swine Flu

I don't know if the U.S. is bothering to post about Swine Flu in other countries these days, but it did manage to arrive in Japan. We had our first confirmed case on Friday, and as of today, there are 170 confirmed cases. Oh - and not just Japan in general, Kobe and Osaka, specifically.

Now, Japan is way more on guard, it seems, for infectious disease than the U.S. Long before Swine Flu was in the news, there were signs in the public transportation warning people to wear masks if they get sick, wash their hands and gargle regularly. In a country where so many people live so close together, I imagine there is more concern about illness - especially the kinds that spreads quickly.

As soon as the first information (however misleading) about Swine Flu came out, my students and coworkers knew about it. In fact, I found out from a student whose mother was concerned that maybe it wasn't safe to do a travel abroad to the U.S. this year. We assured her, and other students/parents that we would keep an eye on the situation, but that the travel abroad group didn"t leave for quite a while yet, so there was no need to worry.

Then Swine Flu (or H1N1 as I should call it - because, if you haven't heard yet, it has NOTHING to do with pigs) found its way to Kobe. Some students and a teacher were coming back from Canada, got through quarantine at the airport, and then developed symptoms. It is not clear if they were the start of all the spread (they were caught pretty quickly) but somehow the virus spread and now its anybody's guess whether it can be contained or not. I have to say, though, if any country in the world is capable of getting ahead of a disease, I think Japan may be the place.

So here's where the cultural immersion really begins.

I came home from grocery shopping on Saturday, and Russell greeted me at the door with a "do you want the good news or the bad news" question. Well, bad, of course. Get it over with. So he tells me that Swine Flue came to Kobe. Okay - I wasn't really worried. By this time I was well aware that it was just a slightly more interesting version of the regular flu, and not something that was going to cause widespread tragedy. The good news, was that I got a week off of school. When I went to confirm this with coworkers, it turned out that only the students got a week off of school, but teacher could report in an hour later than normal.

Sunday before I had to go back to work, I went down the the supermarket to get groceries. I was slightly annoyed at Russell because he wouldn't come with me. He had caught my cold from earlier in the week and even though he seemed to be on the mend, he decided he didn't want to go to the store. It was probably a good choice. EVERYONE was wearing a white mask when I got there. (Except me, of course.) The white masks had been a small presence since we had arrived due to allergies (most people opt for wearing masks instead of taking medication), but there had been a serious increase in usage since I had last been out. Word had definitely spread. There were also long lines of people stocking up (which is not the traditional way to grocery shop in Japan - you usually just buy what you need for the meal - maybe two meals. I got my groceries quickly and ran home.

The next day I walked in to work. I was already planning to walk most of the way for exercise, but Russell talked me into walking the whole way to avoid public transportation. When I got to work I tried to go through the back door I am used to using, but it was locked. Some coworkers signaled for me to go downstairs to get in. This wasn't all that unusual. On the weekends, the security guards often only leave first floor doors open so they can keep a better eye on who goes in and out. I went downstairs and unlocked the door with my security card - but the door still wouldn't open. I tried again, and about that time my boss walked by and signaled for me to use the door by the office. I went down there, and there was a table set up with hand sanitizer. I used the sanitizer and entered the building. All of the office workers were there, but, of course, no students. I went up to my office and spent some time talking everything over with my coworkers.

It turns out, the hospital that is right next to the train stop for our school was one of the quarantine sites for people who had high fever to go. The only way for a person with a high fever to get to the hospital is either by taxi or by the train - the same train that all our students would be using. So the powers that be decided we should follow the example of the public schools and shut down. All of the universities made the same decision, from what I could tell. I was kind of glad I walked - I wasn't worried about meeting an untimely end, but I had already had my cold for the season, I don't need to catch anything new - especially something that would land me in quarantine.

We spent the day at work divvying up assignments, making sure all our projects were still getting done, and then we went home for the week, too. Most of my Japanese colleagues are convinced this will extend past the week. It will be interesting to see.

So I walked all the way home again. I did stop in at a convenience store to get a mask - not because I'm worried about getting the flu, but because I felt like I was making other people nervous - a foreigner walking around with no mask. I haven't been able to bring myself to wear it publicly yet. My neighborhood seems relatively relaxed about the mask wearing - maybe only 50% are wearing a mask - but if I start to feel awkward without one, I can put it on.

My first reaction to all of this fear was that it was silly. The regular flu kills people too, this is nothing overly concerning. As I thought about it, though, my reaction was mostly due to my own sense of well being. I don't feel threatened because I'm in perfectly good health and I am fully confident I would fight it off and be fine again. Based on my own safety - and the safety of most of the students, canceling school seems more than a bit overboard. On the other hand, even the regular flu is dangerous for people with pre-existing medical conditions - and as I mentioned before, there are an awful lot of people here in close proximity. If no precautions were taken, I am sure it would spread to thousands of people very quickly, and there inevitably would be deaths. All of this overreaction may just be a political ploy to show that the government is willing to act for the people, but when I think about it in terms of protecting other people's safety, it doesn't annoy me anymore.

Plus, an extra week or two hanging around home ain't so bad either.

Update: Sorry if I was unclear, but I am NOT sick now. Russell seems to be fully recovered today, too. We are both totally healthy - thank you to anyone who was concerned.

Must see movie

About three weeks ago I assigned my students the writing topic, "what is your favorite book or movie?" (We're starting basic). One girl wrote that her all time favorite movie was "The Undertaker" (her translation of 'Okuribito') . She explained that before watching the movie she had seen people who work around death to be "unclean" but this movie had completely changed her mind and it changed her mind about what it meant to die. Her writing peaked my interest, so I rented the movie last night.

If any of you saw the Academy Awards (I didn't) the movie she was referring to is called "Departures" in English. I would have gone for something more like "Last Respects," While Russell opts for the more direct translations of "The Sender Offers." Title aside, it won Best Foreign Language Film this year.

This is the kind of movie that deserves an academy award. I generally shy away from anything that is going to make me cry (and I didn't really know what I was getting into with this one), but this is a beautiful movie about paying last respects to the people we love, told through the journey of a man who unintentionally applies to work at a japanese [funeral home] (for lack of a better word). The general cultural feeling about this is about the same as my student above, but the movie shows him growing into the job. The story is excellent and the acting is excellent. Being able to get a peek into the cultural aspects of death and funerals in Japan is also fascinating.

Don't be shy about the crying comment. This movie doesn't leave you depressed at all.

According to a website I found, it is due out in limited distribution around the US on May 29th. If you are in Corvallis, keep your eyes on the Darkside. If you are in another neck of the woods - keep your eyes peeled. I would recommend it to anyone.

Adventures with Food

For the most part, the food has been outstanding. Even the cheap pre-made food from the grocery store is tasty (though certainly not as good as real home cooking). Russell and I have been making our way around the grocery store (that we finally found on our third week here) and we have been experimenting with new recipes.

Of course, we still regularly just make things up based on what we have.

I posted about the guudon (beef rice bowl), but we have been busy making other things as well. Early on, Russell started experimenting with Japanese curry. There is probably a way to make your own curry base from scratch, but we're far too lazy for that, so we just buy curry roue in blocks. There are easily ten different brands to choose from - its seems to be a popular meal to make at home. The basics are easy - cook vegetables, add water, add roue and cook down until medium thick. Then eat with rice. Its the consistency of gravy, but its heavily spiced and not as fatty. What we discovered, however, is that the right vegetables will make a really nice vegetable stock that can turn plain curry into SUPER TASTY curry. One of our first attempts came out unexpectedly delicious and Russell has been trying to recreate it ever since. We have had to limit our curry intake, though, due to the high salt content. Here is a video of curry-making from "Cooking with Dog". It is very common to have tonkattsu (or pork cutlet) with curry. Its a little more than my tummy can take, though, so we haven't ventured to try it.



We also found ourselves in need of a super spinach salad the other night. Russell got a seriously painful canker sore in his mouth. We looked up the causes of canker sores and discovered that unlike cold sores (which are caused by a certain kind of herpes virus) canker sores are usually the result of a deficiency in certain vitamins. We looked online and the two top foods for combating canker sores are spinach and octopus. We went to the store, bought both, and then had to decide how to dress up this salad so it wasn't just octopus on spinach. Here's what we came up with. The salad itself included spinach, boiled octopus tentacles (cut into bite size pieces), boiled egg, some sliced leek, grated carrot and cut up grapefruit. The dressing was mostly oil and vinegar with some mirin (a sweet vinegar-like liquid), grated ginger and spicy powder. It was surprisingly tasty and very filling. I'm sure we will be making it more often. Tonight is octopus stew!

UPDATE: The octopus stew turned into Octopus chowder. I way over cooked the potatoes, carrots and broccoli, so I added some milk and corn along with some mushroom dashi and it came out very tasty. No one would have known it was suppose to be stew!


I also recommend tofu guacamole on toast. Just mash a ripe avocado with half (or a third, depending on your tastes) a carton of soft tofu, some salt or soy sauce (depending on what's available). Spread on toast. It would be even better with chopped tomato, lime and cilantro - but we didn't have any of those on hand. Unfortunately, Russell is mildly allergic to avocado - it makes his mouth itch if he eats it in large quantities. I keep forgetting and feeding it to him anyway (which he doesn't usually complain about until after the fact). Maybe he can just have plain tofu next time... Poor Russell.

Pop Health Test

So my second week working at the university I found out that there would be a health test the next day. I said, "okay." I may have asked what it would involve, and was told the doctor would probably take my weight, height, blood pressure and a blood sample - nothing too serious. We should be done in 20 minutes.

Then I heard Mel talking...

Mel is also new to the university, but she has worked in Japan for quite a while. She seemed incredulous that we would ONLY need to perform the above tasks. Every previous place she had worked required chest X-rays, EKGs, eye tests, urine tests - the works.

As far as I could tell, the annual, work-sponsored physical is a harbinger of spring - much like cherry blossoms, but somewhat less pleasant. And it was starting to sound like a real headache...

Around 4:30pm I got a form that I had to fill out before the test the next day. Mel said she would help me if I came in early the next morning (because among the many things I have not studied, medical kanji is high on the list). She also warned me wear something with no metal in it - as anything with metal would have to come off before the chest Xray. Great.

The next morning we met, filled out papers (though it took longer than expected) and headed down to the impromptu doctors office in the school lobby. Now, keep in mind, we all have to teach at 9:20, and the doctors didn't arrive until 8:30. We arrived around 8:50 and were handed cups and pointed towards the restroom. We then stood in line with our cups and waited to have some sort of ph test done while we were weighted and measured. That finished, it was off to the eye exam, followed by a brief physical exam by a doctor. Our blood pressure was taken, and a sample of blood was taken. Next was the chest X-ray, but I was already late for class (and hadn't made copies yet) so I promised to come back and ran for it.

In the end, I didn't get the X-ray or EKG - the doctors were gone when my classes ended. I DID however get a fancy paper with my medical results today, and let me just say, they are quite thorough. I'm impressed. I suppose I should feel that my privacy has been violated (after all, I think my employer gets copies of this information) but I'm too entertained decoding what the numbers mean and if they are good or bad. Most are good so far... just need to keep working on weight.

I hope I get to do another one next year, so I can see whether the Japanese lifestyle has effected my health... I'm a science experiment! Yay!

Wait a minute... where am I??

So I just had a fairly intense realization that I am not, as it turns out, in my own familiar country.

Let me set up the scene:

Russell and I needed to pay our rent. As it turns out, we got our rent bill a few weeks ago, but we failed to realize what it was because of the way it was packaged. Normally we can tell that we have a bill because there is a barcode that gets scanned when we pay, and many circles where official stamps go. The rent bill, however, was all folded up and the folds were completely glued to each other so it wasn't obvious that it unfolded at all. We called the rental company and asked them if we needed to pay, and they said that the rent would be direct deposited or, if the direct deposit wasn't set up yet, we would get a paper bill that we could pay at a local convenience store...

That's right, folks, you can do EVERYTHING at a convenience store here. Pay bills, pick up deliveries, make photocopies, use the ATM... all sorts of stuff. They are, funny enough, very convenient.

But back to the story. Eventually we got another unidentifiable piece of mail that looked like the other unidentified piece of mail we had received and we put two and two together. After a great deal of poking and prodding, we figured out how to unglue the pages and sure enough, on the inside there was the rent amount, barcode, and many little circles awaiting stamps.

Good. So now we could pay.

Here is where things got surreal.

Russell told me that we needed to pay the bill tonight, because the rental place was going to call him tomorrow. Russell was tired, and had just cooked a lovely dinner for me, so I said I would go pay the rent.

I set off.

At 9:30 at night.

To pay my rent.

Which I had to pay in CASH.

I can only imagine myself in this set of circumstances back at home if I were a drug dealer.

The exchange at the convenience store was pretty funny too. I couldn't understand a word the clerk said - really not a word. Here is what I imagine his side of the conversation to have been:

"Welcome to our store"
"Hello, can I pay this with a card?"
"With a card?"
"Yes" (Indicating how much the bill is for) "Is it okay?"
"No, I'm sorry, we can't accept cards here, we can only accept cash."
"Oh, okay" (already expecting this answer, but wanting to make sure)
- pause to get $800 from the nearest ATM and to choose some chocolate.
"Do you want to pay for everything together?"
(me: totally not understanding him, I motion for "separately" because that is what the Lawson clerk always insists on)
"Oh, you want it separate?"
"Yes, please"

I paid for my rent, and then went to pay for the chocolate, but realized I had left my coin purse at home. I therefore had to hand him back the money he had just given me to pay for my rent. Doh. He must have really wondered what was wrong with me.

In any case, I managed to pay rent AND get chocolate.

My favorite part of this story, however, happened when I got home. I had a pay stub from the rental bill and the clerk had stuck a $2 stamp to it. I mentioned this to Russell and he said, "oh yeah, its probably a revenue stamp." Huh? As near as he could tell, this was like a tax that you pay and you get a stamp to show you paid it. Apparently, Russell ran into revenue stamps when he went to get his re-entry permit. You see, on arrival in Japan, we had to register with the city and get alien cards as identification. Once we had alien cards, we could apply for a re-entry permit so we could come and go from Japan at will while we are working here. I still haven't done this, but Russell went and got his re-entry permit set up while I was at work. As part of that process, the government official told him he needed $65 worth of revenue stamps for the application. Russell went to the local convenience store and asked for $65 of revenue stamps. The clerk gave him all $2 stamps. Russell didn't know to ask for larger amounts, so he just took the 15-odd stamps and returned to the government office. The guy helping him thought this was hilarious. He gave Russell a glue stick and a little card and told him to stick all the stamps to the card. Russell was a little sheepish. In fact, he hadn't ever told me that part of the story - not until he saw the $2 revenue stamp again.

So it was an eventful evening.

Staying in

So we can't go adventuring EVERY day. We have been increasing our interesting options at home, though. I have already mentioned many of them. Russell is particularly well set up with a nice big computer screen, sexy new guitar and a chair. I just pretty much blog and grade... so I don't get a chair.

We did finally find a video store near us. I think I mentioned that in one of the Golden Week posts. It is a comfortable walk from our house and has tons of videos to choose from. All of the big hollywood videos are available, and a lot of international movies that we probably couldn't find at home. There are also a ton of TV series - American, Japanese, Korean and others. And anime -can't forget that. In other words, we can keep ourselves QUITE busy. The store also rents music, which is a new twist for us. We haven't tried that, yet, but we probably will soon. There are several artists I want to check out, but CDs here run around $35 and up. Rental sounds like a much better option. Plus, all rentals come in a little cloth tote bag that you return to the store. Very cute.


Another form of entertainment is learning to cook Japanese food. There is a fantastic series on YouTube that we found a while back that shows exactly how to prepare a wide range of Japanese cuisine. The series is called "Cooking With Dog" and features a Japanese woman who says very little (but does all the skillful cooking) and her dog Francis who sits on a stool next to her and licks his lips. There is also a man's voice (supposedly Francis) explaining the steps of the recipe. Many of the ingredients are difficult to find in the U.S. - but we aren't in the U.S. anymore! So we are having a great time. Our first adventure: Gyuudon (beef over rice).

I first learned about Gyuudon a few weekends ago when I was on duty Sunday for an open campus (a recruiting event for high schoolers). This included a free Gyuudon lunch and all the cake I could eat. (Truly all I could eat because there was a weather warning out for high winds, so only 20 students came). We had cake coming out our ears - really really good cake. Japanese cake is always super light and not too sweet - and there were maybe 8 different kinds - matcha cream roll cake, cheesecake, chocolate cake, strawberry cake, mille crepe cake, and others. And all I had to do was chat with students here and there. Totally awesome! I'm signing up for as many of these as I can.... but back to Gyuudon...

After that first introduction, I started seeing Gyuudon everywhere - and then Cooking With Dog showed how to make it. Luckily, Russell is up for culinary challenges, so he got right on learning how to make it. The first round he made was tasty, but we were lacking a few ingredients and our on-sen eggs came out a bit runny. Today we had all our ingredients, and the end result was very tasty. It was a bit salty, and the eggs came out a bit overdone this time, but it was still delicious. Check out the pictures - Russell made that!



If you are interested in finding out what goes into Gyuudon, feel free to watch the Cooking With Dog video. We love them. I really want to make Ichigo Daifuku (Strawberry, red bean, mochi treats) but they require a steamer - which we don't have. Russell is trying not to accumulate stuff, and buying a steamer for the sole purpose of making one awesome dessert isn't very motivating to him. I fully intend to watch the video every day until he makes some for me. :D

Kyoto Day 2

We did get back to Kyoto for a second day yesterday. It was just as much fun, and we have still only scratched the surface. There is just so much history, art and architecture in Kyoto. Not to mention tasty food.

This time, we explored several temples closer to the train station. The first was only a couple blocks north - Higashi Honganji. This is one of two temples that were built in the 1500s. Its sister temple, Nishi Honganji is apparently the more favored of the two temples - and while that may be up for debate among historians, the fact that Higashi Honganji is currently under construction for a refurbished roof, definitely makes it the less appealing to tourists. So why did we go? The first time I went to Japan, I remember talking with my grandfather about the experience. He had been to Japan at some point during his service during the Korean War, and he had good memories of Japan. One thing he remembered seeing was a temple with a rope made of human hair. He remembered that the women in the city had donated their hair in order to create ropes that were strong enough to lift the huge beams that were required to build the temple, and this act of community and selflessness had made an impression on my grandfather. I was pretty sure he had told me that the rope was in a temple in Nara, but after a Google search, I was able to place it in Kyoto - at least, I'm pretty sure this was the one he was talking about. Good thing for the Internet, though. The rope itself doesn't attract that much attention, and even my students who had lived in Kyoto their whole lives had never heard of it. We were able to find it, though, and made a point of going to see it. Impressions? The rope's story is still impressive, but the rope itself - kind of gross. It is mouldering away in a glass case wrapped into a giant coil. Sorry, no pictures. You can find photos on the internet, though.

The Higashi Honganji temple was impressive in size - the largest wooden structure in Kyoto - and had enormous wooden columns and beams. It is hard to imagine how it was built - or that Japan ever had trees that size. Next to the rope, there was a crude wooden sledge that was apparently used slide trees out of the mountains during winter. As you can imagine, this was far from a safe activity - especially in Winter. It was too bad that the roof was under construction, there was scaffolding and an outer shell up to protect the temple, so we don't really have any pictures. I did get a shot of the washing area. You are suppose to wash your hands (and often your mouth when the water is potable) at these areas. This one was especially impressive with water pouring from a dragon's mouth.

Having finished our pilgrimage to see the rope, we next headed to the longest wooden structure in Kyoto - the Sanjuusangendo. To copy wholesale from another website:
"Sanjuusangendo" was founded in 1164. The names means "Hall with 33 Bays" and refers to the spaces between the pillars of the hall. The number "33" is also significant in Buddhist tradition because "Kannon-Bodhisattva" saves mankind by disguising himself in 33 different ways. The building is 390' (118m) long and houses one large central image of a Kannon (Goddess of Mercy) and no less than 1000 other life-sized (5'5") statues - 500 arrayed on either side. Another 30 statues of gods and spirits stand in front."
I knew about the 1001 statues of Buddha, but I didn't expect the 30 gods and spirits. They were by far the most interesting part for me. Each had been carved from wood (in several pieces that were fit together later) and they had glass eyes that made them look much more alive than the buddha statues behind them. Each statue was striking. There was an old man, a god of thunder, a god of wind - I recommend looking these up on the Internet. We weren't allowed to take pictures, so I don't have any to share from inside the temple, but it was really impressive, and definitely a recommended place to visit if you are ever in Kyoto.

After all the time on our feet, we couldn't quite bring ourselves to walk uphill to the next site I had been planning on. At first, we decided to change plans and go to the National Museum across the street from the Sanjuusangendo - but we were still tired, so we took a break and went to have traditional sweets at a restaurant down the street. The restauarant was in an old traditional style house with tatami flooring and sliding doors. We had to take our shoes off before entering and we sat on cushions on the tatami mats. I'm not sure what Russell ordered, but I had mochi with adzuki. I had had this before in Hokkaido when our friend Hiro insisted we try it. It consists of red beans cooked down with sugar until they make a kind of sweet dark red bean sauce. This sauce is presented kind of like a thick soup with mochi balls floating in it. Mochi is a rice sweet made simply by pounding the heck out of rice until the natural gluten in rice forms into a rubbery texture. Rice naturally has sugars in it, so when paired with other sweet things - like red bean sauce and paste - it makes a very tasty dessert. Our desserts also came with more Matcha - which I described in Kyoto Day #1.

We had a good rest and were very proud of ourselves for successfully navigating an eating experience that we were both unfamiliar with. Unfortunately, by the time we returned to the museum, there was only about an hour left - and for $13 dollars each, we decided it would be better to return another day when we were less pressed for time. Instead, newly invigorated, we decided to walk to Toji temple and pagoda, which one of Russell's friends had recommended. Now that I think about it, this was keeping with our "superlative" theme for the day. The Toji pagoda is the tallest in Japan. We figured, even if it closed before we arrived, we could at least enjoy it from the outside.

As it turned out, we arrived about 30 minutes before closing, so there was just enough time to go walk through the pagoda. I was hoping we would be able to walk up to the different levels, but while there were stairs, they were cordoned off. Instead, we only got to walk around the central shrine with four buddha statues. One interesting thing that we had learned from the Sanjuusangendo was that Buddhist temples - at least their rafters were often painted with intricate blue red and and white floral and geometric patters. There had been a hint of the original paint that could still be spotted in the Sanjuusangendo, but in the pagoda the old paint was easier to see. The temples must have been gorgeous when they were fresh painted. The plan in the current temples seems to be preserving what is left - I haven't seen any temples that have been repainted. Maybe we just haven't been to enough of them yet...

We finished off our evening at an izakaya near the station. Unlike the first izakaya we went to with my coworkers, this one felt a bit more typical - small, crowded, smokey, and unpretentious. The food was very tasty, if a bit greasy, and there was a wide selection of sake and distilled spirits of the region. Russell is really enjoying the sweet potato-based alcohol. I'm good rotating between sake and oolong tea. We left with a renewed interest in finding a favorite izakaya in our neighborhood. This can't be a good idea for our pocketbooks or our waist-lines.

So that was Day #2 in Kyoto. We still have plenty to go back and see, but we got a good sense of the city and we are pleased at how easy it is to get to - only one hour if we catch the fast train.

Today, Tuesday and the last day of vacation, was devoted to hanging out at home and resting. We did venture out to rent a movie - something we hadn't gotten around to trying yet. We found a video store nearby and managed to open an account. Sometimes its nice when something kind of trivial is all you can claim for the highlight of the day. :)

I've been putting off grading papers and preparing tests all day, so I had better get to it. Its already 6pm!

More Kyoto Day 1 Pictures

I just stole Russell's phone and downloaded the pictures he took today. There are a few things I forgot to mention, too.

First of all, before we entered the Kinkokuji grounds, there was a huge gong that people could pay 300 yen (about $3) to take a whack at. Russell was good enough to capture the image (we passed this by because the line was pretty long).

There was also a spot along the path after we saw the golden temple where people were throwing coins and trying to get them into one of two bowls. One bowl looked newer and was out in front, and the other was a bigger, older stone bowl behind it. There were several statues surrounding the two bowls and a heap of coins scattered in all directions. We spent several minutes watching very few people manage to land a coin in either bowel. A few people made it, but most just kept tossing and tossing. We didn't know why we wanted to get a coin in the bowl, but we sure wanted to try, so when we managed to wiggle up to the front, we each threw a coin. Russell's missed, but mine landed. The ladies next to me were very impressed. *preen* Hope it wasn't a fertility bowl.



Inside the Ryoanji building, there were also several unlit traditional rooms with the old painted sliding screens. We especially liked the dragons. Its a little bit hard to see with the light being so low, but hopefully you can get a sense of the painting.

Kyoto: Day 1

We did get to Kyoto today, though we were a bit late getting started. By the time we arrived I was having a hunger melt down, so we had some Ramen at the station before venturing out. The ramen place was interesting... there was a mega crowd today (probably partially due to Golden Week) and lines were super long at all the stores. This didn't help with my melt down. Most restaurants had a ticket machine outside the door where you could buy a ticket for whatever you wanted to eat. Then you got in line for the restaurant - a long line. While we were waiting, a waitress came out and checked what we were going to order so that everything was cued up and efficient. Another waitress brought us all tea. After about 15 minutes in line we got a table in the restaurant and our food came out within 3 minutes of sitting down. The whole lunch was as efficient as you could ask for. We topped lunch off with some matcha and hogicha ice cream. Matcha is a green tea made by whipping powdered green tea in water. It is the traditional tea used in the tea ceremony and is oftene used to season foods and desserts. Hogicha is a wheat tea with a distinctive flavor - you'll just have to try it. Both ice creams were delicious - and didn't involve corn flakes or soft serve!

Since it was already 2:00, we decided to skip over several smaller stops we wanted to make and go straight to the top recommended temple in Kyoto - the Kinkakuji. The Kinkakuji, as Russell do deftly noted, is not painted yellow. No, that's thick gold leaf covering that temple. The temple and grounds were originally the home of the third Shogun of some era I forgot who began building on and landscaping this area after he abdicated. After he died, the temple and grounds became a Buddhist temple - as per his wishes. Russell and I were uncertain whether he originally had it covered in Gold leaf, or if that came later. Apparently in 1950, an angry monk burned the original temple down, but it was rebuilt 5 years later and has since been re-gilded in the 80's. There were many other buildings on the premises as well, including a traditional tea ceremony building. The site is now listed on the UNESCO world heritage sites list. Towards the end of the tour around the grounds we had the option of sitting for some traditional matcha and a small dessert. Neither of us have ever had real matcha in tea-form before - only the flavoring. We couldn't really pass that opportunity up. We hot matcha accompanied by a white cube with two flecks of gold on it. The outer white coating was a finely compressed sugar powder, and the inside was sweet red bean, probably mixed with the same sugar powder. It was tasty, but the tea was the best part. Now I want to be a tea nerd and go get the cups, whisk, etc we need to make matcha at home...hmm.

After visiting the Kinkakuji, we decided to follow the walking map we had gotten from the tourism office. We didn't think there were any other big attractions in the area - the Kinkakuji is a bit farther afield then the other sights I was hoping to get to. It turned out our assumption was totally wrong. After the modern art museum we ran into another temple - the Ryoanji Temple and we decided to go in. Turns out its a UNESCO heritage site too. We didn't know what to expect, but we went in anyway. This place was even more gorgeous (in my opinion) than the Kinkakuji - though not as golden. There was extensive landscaping that was just beautiful and a building we got to explore with one of the most renowned white rock gardens in the world. Russell and I don't quite get the white rock gardens, but there was a large crowd of people - young, old and in between, taking pictures and sitting to just contemplate the garden. The atmosphere was very pleasant.

We continued from the building (which was under construction for a new roof) and explored a different part of the garden. There were trellises and wysteria everywhere. As we were going around the lake, we spotted three turtles sunning themselves on a rock. There was some debate as to whether they were real, but if you watched them long enough they would move their heads. Definitely alive. There was a fourth turtle floating just beyond the rock - you probably can't see him in the picture - he was hard to spot in real life.

We left the temple and continued to the last place marked on the walking tour - another temple just down the road. We thought we had come upon it when we saw a temple with tons of cars parked outside. It had closed, though, so we kept going. We were just commenting that it was odd how all the other sites that were on the map had signs in English making it clear when you had found them, when we rounded the corner and saw the ACTUAL temple we were looking for. The gate was enormous and there were two statues outside easily twice my height. It was truly impressive. Unfortunately, it was after closing hours, so we will have to go back another time.

While we were on a walking tour designed to take you to the biggest and most historic shrines and temples in Kyoto, we definitely got the sense that you could walk in any direction and bump into temple on a regular basis. Maybe not a UNESCO heritage site temple, but not a tiny little neighborhood temple either. Keep in mind that Kyoto was the capital of Japan before Tokyo - and has been carefully preserved over the years. I knew it was a hotbed of history, but it really is impressive to be in the middle of it - and to see the mixture of cutting edge modern and ageless history.

We will be going back tomorrow (and likely many more times in the future). Stay tuned.

A few small discomforts

For the most part, we have adjusted just fine to life in Japan. But even so, there are a few small discomforts. I have mentioned the low sink before, but I managed to get a picture of Russell without him noticing the other day, so I thought I would illustrate. The pillow helps.


Another discomfort is the japanese style toilets. This picture is from a women's restroom - and is perfectly typical of public restrooms. Sometimes one or two stalls will have western-style toilets, and sometimes there are only western-style toilets... but its still common to find yourself stuck with tradition. I've gotten used to them, but they really are intimidating the first few times you use them. Oh, and there also often isn't toilet paper or any way to dry your hands after you wash them. Luckily, it is common to be handed tissues with promotional ads on them when you are walking on the street. As long as you always keep some in your purse, you are good to go. A wash cloth to dry your hands after washing them is also recommended - though I have not been so clever yet.

Note the green button on the wall. DO NOT PUSH THE GREEN BUTTON!

Golden Week

Hooray! We have reached Golden Week!

Golden Week is a string of four national holidays that end up accounting for a week off of work. April 29th is Showa day - a day honoring the birthday of the emperor who go reigned before, during and after World War II. Wikipedia says it is a day to reflect on the recovery Japan made after World War II and to think of the future. May 3rd is Constitution Memorial Day, May 4th is Greenery day (or nature day). And May 5th is Children's Day. With so many holidays in such close proximity, many people just get the whole week off. We weren't quite so lucky, (we worked this Thursday and Friday) but we did get last Wednesday off and we will get Monday and Tuesday off for a four day weekend.

Today we have been taking it easy and getting our apartment cleaned up. Now that Russell works at home entropy seems to set in pretty hard and heavy -but so far we have been good about cleaning up on Saturdays. Since the weather is GORGEOUS again it is also laundry day. Last weekend it was raining heavily, so we waited a week and this week we could barely fit all of our laundry out on our porch to dry. We were creative, though, and it all fit in the end.

While we were waiting for our laundry to finish we had coffee and lunch at Cafe Kei (with the super friendly old ladies). I love that place. Lunch was super tasty and the ladies that run it are awesome.

We are planning to go to Kyoto for at least one day, maybe two of Golden Week. Kyoto is an hour or two from here, but if we make a day of it, we should have lots of time to wander around. Apparently it is going to be crammed full of tourists, but so it goes. I'm just glad we don't have to find a hotel for the night!

If you are trying to figure out the random photo, it is downtown at night. We were coming home and I thought it was pretty so I snapped a photo. It has nothing to do with the post.

Going Kobe

For the 29th of April, my school hosted "Going Kobe." As far as I can tell, it is a large music event sponsored by several local schools (or maybe just mine) to attract high-schoolers who then get the chance to see the school and how cool it is for hosting such an event. Aha. It is also a chance for the students at this Tourism school to practice a variety of Event Planning activities like hocking cookies and guidebooks. Actually, there is a great deal of effort that goes into many aspects of the planning and execution of the event, and the students get a lot of good experience.



Some time last year one of the staff members at the university started booking bands - and from what I can tell, these are fairly well known bands in Japan - definitely commercial groups and not just garage bands. The crowd on Wednesday was impressive. Russell and I went around noon, had lunch at the food stands and then perched ourselves on the balcony where we could see the show and the crowd without being sucked into the action. Plus, there was ice cream. :D


We saw at least two bands that drew huge crowds of fans. You could tell a group was popular when people started gathering a half hour early. Then, when the music started, a sea of people would rush forward to the stage. The music was very fun - kind of rock/pop - and the crowd was fascinating. It was kind of like a mosh-pit (there was plenty of crowd surfing) but they would seemingly randomly do very organized things... for example, circles would open up in the middle of the crowd and then everyone would start running around the circle together - imagine a whirlpool. I think this was occurring because a group of friends would plan together and then clump in the middle of the crowd only to spread out into a circle and push people back. Once the crowd saw what was going on, they would back up to accommodate the circle, and then when the organizers started running around the circle, the crowd would all jump in and create the whirlpool. Fascinating.

It also turns out that brightly colored towels (think south american soccer game) are also a crucial part of the live music scene in Japan. All of the students had one around their neck and at certain times they would spin the towels as fast as they could above their heads. Another impressive image was during one particularly popular song about sunflowers. The singer asked everyone to link up (which they clearly knew was going to happen) and everyone instantly formed these long braids of people with arms on each others shoulders. Occasionally there would be a circle of friends linked up together, but for the most part everyone just grabbed the person next to them. Would that ever happen at a concert in the States? Even if the audience knew to expect it? I'm not sure it would... Russell and I tried to take pictures, but you really had to be there to appreciate it.

Hopefully more Golden Week adventures are to come.

A variety of adventures

It is unfortunate that we got Internet so late in the game. We have been having all sorts of adventures. In the interest of looking to the future, I may not really get around to describing our early weeks in detail, but here are a few highlights.

Hiking

Kobe is situated on the coast and backed by medium size mountains (not snow-capped or anything, but not just hills either). I decided that we should be intrepid and take the mountains on, so we bought a local hiking guide. I can't read any of the descriptions, but there are maps and highlights and a key that tells you the altitude gains for any given span of time on the hike. The problem was that the guide was in kilometers, so I had no idea what I was getting into. I wanted to start slow, so we chose a one star hike up Mount Maya that we could walk to from our house. When we started, there was a lovely old lady that helped us find the path and who explained that she climbs Mount Maya every day. This gave us confidence. Unfortunately, by the time we reached the top, we were prepared to kill ourselves - or perhaps, fairly sure we already had. We had to take the gondola down the hill. We just couldn't move anymore.  We ended the day with a nice hot bath in our super deep tub and haven't looked at the hiking book since. Incidentally, we discovered at another bookstore that "Mountain hiking" is different than "Mountain walking." It turns out that mountain walking = hiking and mountain hiking = mountaineering. One star hikes are only one star because they don't require special equipment. Awesome.

Food

We have also had all sorts of awesome food. For example, takoyaki which is very popular street vendor food. It consists of balls made out of batter with vegetables and octopus bits in it. Super tasty.  

We also had nabe, which consists of a shallow pot on a grill into which goes broth and a huge pile of meat and vegetables (especially cabbage). The grill is turned on, and the vegetables cook down into the broth. When it is all cooked, you pull the vegetables and meat out of the broth and eat. It was a rather exciting adventure. We also found dark beer at the nabe restaurant. It was a very welcome surprise and not one that has been repeated at other restaurants. 

Another delectable grilled dinner is yakiniku. It consists of a hot grill in the middle of your table and a plate of super tasty marinated raw meats and vegetables. You just grill the meat how you like and eat it as it comes off the grill. It was divine. Russell and I were quite pleased with ourselves. Russell was a real champ, too. He had to do an awful lot of talking to figure out what to do for both the nabe and the yakiniku. They are intimidating the first time you try them.

Social Events

Event #1: I had heard before I came that it is common to go out for social gatherings, often involving large amounts of alcohol, with your coworkers. It is a kind of bonding experience. As it turns out, our particular office hasn't really been known to do that kind of thing. This year, however, one of the other new hires took it on herself to get us all properly loosened up around each other. To be fair, our boss took note of her vague interest in having such a party and assigned her to make it happen. Which she did. There were probably around 19 people total. She chose a nomihodai (no idea if I spelled that right) which is an option at some bars where you go with a group and for a set period of time (and a set rate) its all you can drink. The drink list has a respectable variety, too. This particular gathering was in a private room (less chance of running into students) and included dinner. Oh, and it was in an Aladdin themed restaurant. It was incredibly tacky, but very fun. I didn't really drink very much, but the food was good, and it was fun to hang out with everyone. 

Event #2: After the big group social event, the native speaking English teachers decided to get together and have a night out as well (without bosses around).  This time, we chose a more typical izakaya which is a bar where you can order smallish quantities of food to share (kind of like tapas, but Japanese food). Apparently it is typical for everyone to just have as much as they want and then split the bill evenly at the end. (Well, the splitting part may not be typical - often one person treats - but none of us were feeling so generous).  This time we were a bit more liberal on the drinks - which was unfortunate because drinks are definitely not bottomless at an izakaya. We ended up paying a bit more than we expected - though it was still very reasonable for as much as we ate and drank. And before you get the wrong idea, we didn't way over-indulge. We all made it home safely and to work the next morning by 8am. We did enjoy ourselves, though. I work with a really good bunch of people - quirky, as you might imagine, but definitely good people. All but one of us are new to the job, too, so the bonding is very welcome. Russell has become an honorary teacher on nights like this because he was around so much the first few weeks when he was borrowing Internet for work.  

Health Check Up!

A week ago I was told something to the effect of, "Oh, tomorrow is the health check up day," by my boss. That didn't catch my attention much until I heard something about a chest x-ray. Huh? I asked what this was likely to involve. My boss said they would just take some blood and do a quick chest x-ray. She said it was no big deal, but we do need to do it. Apparently last year she put it off for several months and she finally got chewed out over it and went to the hospital to have the physical.  One of my other coworkers was scheptical. She had worked at several other schools and she told me that the physicals she has experienced take a long time and are quite thorough. She recommended not wearing an underwire bra so I wouldn't have to de-robe for the chest x-ray. Awesome. The next day I arrived and started filling out my medical history form (with extensive translation help). Once the group of us were done, we trooped down to the temporary medical clinic in the lobby to be checked out. Keep in mind we all had to teach starting at 9:00am, but the doctors weren't accepting anyone until 8:30 - and I needed to give blood and get a chest x-ray... this wasn't sounding very feasible. 

As it turned out, it was the full physical - not just blood and an x-ray. First we were presented with a cup and shuffled off to the bathroom. We then took our cups to be tested and were weighed. Next we had an eye exam. Then we gave blood and a doctor listened to our heart and lungs. At this point, it was time to teach, so the doctors asked us if we could come back after class. We agreed, but for me, that meant after 12:30, and the doctors were already gone.  So now I need to go finish my physical at the hospital - which includes the chest x-ray and (did I forget to mention?) an EKG. Seriously. And all workers have this done once a year in Japan. This isn't just a funny thing at this school. 

Don't hit the red button! Or the blue one, for that matter.

One last story and then I'm off to bed. An early mistake I made (uh, twice) was pushing the wrong button in the bathroom stall in public restrooms and setting off the safety alarm. Many public restrooms have emergency buttons in case someone follows you into the bathroom. Its a good idea - unless you can't read Japanese. The first time, I was searching for how to flush the toilet and I saw two buttons on the wall. One was silver and one was green. I figured "green for go" right? The real problem is that once the alarm goes off, you have exactly 30 seconds to decide between trying to figure out how to turn it off again, or pulling up your pants before the security guard comes running in. The confusing thing, is that you DO hit a button on the wall to flush the toilet. So I wasn't that far off, I just hit the wrong one. In this case, the guard came in and yelled at me to push the button again to turn it off (again, I had other things on my mind rather then figuring out how to turn the alarm off). 

And unfortunately, that wasn't the last time I pulled this stunt. My second day at work, before anyone else had arrived, I found myself in a similar situation. Except this time there was no obvious way to flush the toilet other than a red button on the wall. I had learned from before that buttons on walls are used to flush toilets, and my associations with color and meaning are not trustworthy, so I hit the button. The alarm went off. I could hear it ringing through the whole school. Luckily there were no students around yet - but the alarm really echoed. I tried hitting the button again as the guard at the station showed me, but it didn't do anything. Having failed to stop the alarm, my first priority returned to my pants. I went outside and explained to the guard what had happened - well, in as much as I can explain anything with my broken Japanese. He was very kind, and turned off the alarm (only the guards can do it at the school).  It turns out there is a normal flushing handle on the school toilets, but it is hard to see behind the enormous toilet lid. I also later found out that I was not the only non-Japanese speaker to set off the alarm in the bathroom.