The Surprise Date

After spending most of the day holed up in our apartment (Russell was working and I was off work and generally being lazy), Russell and I decided we needed to get out of the house. It was just about dinner time, so we figured we would go get dinner and then pick up a couple movies from the movie rental place. The problem was that we had had a delcious Gyuudon lunch and weren't really interested in eating anywhere too rich. That cut out the ramen shop, and the two izakaya in the neighborhood. We decided to deal with the movies first and think it over. As we walked Russell suggested pasta. There is a pasta place we have been to several times in the center of the city that is super tasty, not too fancy, and relatively cheap. It also has a lovely view of the mountains. We didn't really want to head to the center of the city, though.

Then, Russell remembered that we had passed a pasta place close to the movie rental store several months back. I had totally forgotten about it, but I did recognize it when we walked up to it again. It looks rather fancy inside, but the menu on the board outside the door seemed reasonable, so we decided to try it. We were the only ones in the restaurant (which is always a bit eerie to me) but it did have nice atmosphere. We looked at the menu. The first page had set menus on it starting at $35 for a four course meal. The next three pages were all wine lists. Hmmm.... I checked my wallet. I had $70. Russell had $20. We decided our dinner out had just turned into a date and each ordered the set menu with a glass of red wine. So much for eating light.

What I am about to describe is the best meal I have ever eaten in my life. Russell was hard pressed to remember better himself. He had certainly never had anything so delicious for the price.

The red wine came out first, followed shortly by our antipasti: two small triangles of polenta, a small mound of couscous with two slices marinated mackerel, a slice of some sort of meat (smoked ham? smoked turkey?) and two thin slices of caramelized acorn squash. All carefully displayed on a long white plate with olive oil and basalmic vinegar artfully dribbled around the edge. It was looking like we were in for an event. Everything was as delicious as it looks - probably more so.

Next came a plate of bread. We each got a thin, crunchy breadstick and a slice of delicious wheat baguette. Its been a while since we've run into any sort of bread with an honest yeast/wheat taste. This was glorious. We have since decided that the bread does not count as a course and we were probably suppose to save it for the pasta that came after it (even though it was long polished off before the pasta arrived).

The pasta was amazing. Perfectly al dente with a light, tomato and olive oil based sauce. The sauce also had crushed olives (mediterranean style, not US black olive style) and capers. Russell commented that it was the best pasta he had ever eaten. We were both very sad to see it end and very excited to see what would come next.

Next was a second pasta dish. This one was quite different. It reminded me of a beef burgundy with gnocchi. There were chunks of beef and a local mushroom that is long, skinny and chewy in a thick beef sauce poured over gnocchi (a kind of doughy pasta dumpling). This was when we really started enjoying our wine, by the way.

The third course was the main course. Russell had ordered the meat of the day (lamb) and I had ordered the fish (a local fish I had heard of before but I have no idea what it is in English). Russell reported that the lamb was perfect. It was lightly crispy on the edges and tender all the way through. It game with grilled asparagus and assorted other vegetables. The fish came in two pieces, also grilled to perfection and paired with a fresh salad, radishes and cherry tomatoes. Neither of us were willing to share with the other.

The final course was dessert. We each got a plate with tiny portions of three very different desserts. One was a chocolate chip cake (which was a bit dry and chewy), there was also a small scoop of grapefruit sorbet and something white that we could never fully place. It was almost like a very light, fluffy yogurt, but clearly not yogurt (it wasn't tangy at all). It had a lemon honey sauce dribbled on top of it. That was definitely my favorite. Dessert was also accompanied by a cup of coffee or black tea. I had the coffee and Russell, the tea.

We are only now coming down from our food induced euphoria. Of course, its not a place we will be eating at regularly, but we will definitely go back for special occasions. Maybe next time we won't wander in wearing jeans and T-shirts, either...

Boy Restaurants

I have had several posts in which I talk about cafes - which, of course are meant for eating cake, not drinking coffee. These tend to put great effort into designing an atmosphere that will attract a female crowd. They tend to be trendy and chic or decorated in a more tuscan theme. That sort of thing. On the flip side of that, there are also what we have come to term "Boy Restaurants." These are restaurants that often cater to men on their lunch hour. While the girls head off to the fancy cafes and restaurants, the boys look for something a little bit grungier and less pretentious.

These boy restaurants have been mentioned in this blog before. You might remember that one of Nicole's three "worsts" while she was in Kobe was:

"No dude restaurants (due to Gwen being too girly)."

Gwen quickly replied in the comments with:

"'too Girly' meaning I wouldn't eat at a filthy restaurant"

The particular restaurant to which they were referring was a Gyuudon place near the train station. Gyuudon (in case you have not been studying your Japanese food flashcards) is the beef over a bowl of rice that Russell is so good at making. Russell had been to the Gyuudon place by the station and had come home raving about it, but as Gwenn pointed out, its a little more than seedy looking. I hadn't put it too high on my priority list to try it out. Today, however, Russell suggested going and figured, why not? I have to say, it was one of the best meals I have had in Japan (although my next post is going to blow it out of the water, so stay tuned).

The restaurant is small (it probably can only seat about 10 people on stools around a U shaped bar. Before you sit down, you buy a ticket for whatever you want to eat out of a vending machine. We have seen these in several other restaurants, and of course at the cafeterias where I work, and they really are quite clever. Since you buy your ticket before you sit down, the restaurant doesn't have to handle any money. In fact, this particular restaurant is run by only one man. All he does is cook and clean up after patrons when they are finished. Its quite efficient. Russell and I each got a ticket for gyuudon and we sat down. The fellow behind the bar came out, took our tickets and returned maybe 5 minutes later with a tray and three bowls. The big bowl was the guudon, the middle bowl had some broth with bits of seaweed and peppery shitake mushroom slices in it, and the last little bowl had some kimchee in it (spicy Korean pickled cabbage if you have never tried it before). Everything was delicious. The Gyuudon was different from Russell's gyuudon. There were larger, but still thinly sliced pieces of beef that had been grilled perfectly and laid over half of the rice in the bowl. By grilled perfectly I mean they were fully cooked but super tender and tasted like the best steak you've ever had - even though they were very thin cuts. The other half of the rice was covered in shredded cabbage. All together the meal cost $6 and I was quite full afterwards. It was delicious.

I have to admit, though, the place is absolutely a boy's restaurant. The walls started at a grease flecked off white color at the bottom and about half way up started slowly getting darker and darker until the color was more of a dark brown at the top. The ceiling was black. This was all due to the smoke from the grill and an apparent lack of any sort of attention for quite some time. The posters on the wall were all sun-faded and covered in a similar caramel patina. Everything we came in direct contact with (the bowls, the counter top, etc. ) seemed perfectly clean, but this did strike me as the kind of place you would need some encouragement to try out. Considering I have never had better gyuudon anywhere, though, consider yourselves encouraged.

Beautiful Kobe

I have to say. We really do live in a beautiful city. The city itself feels very new due the all of the rebuilding and self-reinventing that happened after the huge earthquake that happened here, but stuck between the mountains and the ocean, its just a lovely setting. Lately I have been treated to gorgeous sunsets on my way home from work. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was taken from the deck outside the English Office where I work.

Health Care Reform

I do not claim to know all the ins and outs of the Health Care Reform debate, and I don't think anyone on any side can predict accurately what the outcome will be of any plan other than the current one. I do know what I think today, based on a fair amount of reading on the topic, and I have the bully pulpit, so here's my two cents.

To be clear from the start, I am very much in favor of a public option. To make sure we are thinking of the same thing, this is where the government starts a non-profit organization that competes with private insurance companies without anything being subsidized by the government. This seems like a straight up good idea - there are no subsidies, so it doesn't cost the tax payer as much as real socialized medicine (I'm sure it will still cost plenty to get started, though), and it only provides honest competition to private companies - it doesn't have an unfair edge (namely being able to offer services cheaper because Uncle Sam is paying for part of it). Of course, a public option non-profit company is only concerned with staying viable - not with making people at the top rich, so that gives it an edge, but then again, it would likely end up being a bureaucracy with its own inefficiencies so that private companies could still find ways to give better service but still make money doing it.

It has been interesting comparing the American system to the Japanese system (something I am still learning about but have had contact with recently).

In Japan there is social health care. There is a national insurance provided by the government to anyone who wants it. In fact, signing up takes less than an hour and because it is subsidized by the government, it's quite cheap. It does not cover 100%, but I think it covers 70% of medical expenses which would probably keep most people from going broke, even if they did have a huge emergency. I'm sure I am oversimplifying things, but lets go with that for now.

In Japan, there are also many private companies. They offer different kinds of coverage. Some offer cheaper monthly costs but don't pay anything until you reach a certain pre-set amount. Many of my colleagues opt for plans like this because they don't expect to get sick and they don't want to sink too much into health care at this stage in their life. Another common private insurance is a gold-premium style of option. Its super expensive, but it covers everything. If you can afford it, you never have to worry about any medical issues.

It is also illegal to live in Japan without insurance. I assume there are ways to get help paying for insurance if you truly can't afford it.

From what I can tell, most hospitals run on a first come, first served basis. This is probably not the case if you are doing a yearly physical, but as you may remember from earlier posts, most people get their yearly physical done at work once a year. For those with medical issues that crop up unexpectedly, you go to the hospital, take a number, and wait your turn. If you go in the morning, you may only wait a few minutes. I can only imagine that dire emergencies skip the wait. From what I hear, you are always seen the same day. Plus, if you know you need a specialist, you go to the specialist. No getting a referral from your doctor. We like that rule. Our dermatologist is like a friend of ours. We drop in all the time.

The cost of our dermatologist visits are also surprisingly inexpensive. Again, we don't make appointments, we literally just drop in when we feel like it. We have never waited more than 15 minutes (though that must be different in other branches of medicine) and we don't pay so much. I have national insurance here in Japan and I usually pay the equivalent of $7 or $8 per visit. Russell is insured through work, but has to send all receipts to the U.S. and be reimbursed, so he sees the full cost of the treatment - usually about $30-$40. I'm not sure what keeps the cost of treatment down. I assume it is in part related to malpractice suits (or lack thereof), but there are probably many forces at work.

The cost of my national insurance (and it may be cheaper this year because it is the first year I am on it - I'm not quite sure how all of this works yet - is about $50/month. Way less than is taken out of Russell's paycheck, and way, way, way less than Russell and his employer together pay.

I realize that this is a more socialized system, and not what the U.S. Democrats are proposing, but I find it interesting that the main complaints I hear from people against a public option are that 1) it would put private companies out of business (not even a socialized system has managed to do that in Japan) 2) it will reduce the quality of care (but we get treated faster and by clearly qualified doctors) 3)all of the government bureaucracies will get between you and your doctor (but in spite of very clear bureaucracy here, I got insurance fast, pay on the spot, and am in and out in less than 30 minutes). I'm not sure that a public option in the style the Democrats are proposing can do as much as a Socialized system, but it seems like a step closer to good quality, affordable health care while still promoting responsible competition from private companies.

Another thing that's interesting to me is that whenever I mention the U.S. health care debate to Japanese people, they are shocked that the U.S. doesn't have any form of government run health care. They are even more shocked to hear that a significant chunk of Americans live without any health care. The first thing most people say is, "How is that possible? The United States is one of the most advanced countries in the world!" When probed about the Japanese system, of course there is belly-aching and stories of abusing the system or slow bureaucracies - but no one ever says they wish there were no national insurance plan. And no, Japanese people are no more trusting of their government to run anything, much less health care. In fact, they are probably less confident in their government than we in the U.S., overall. The need for some sort of universal health care just isn't up for debate, though.

I am curious to hear other opinions. If you have my email, feel free to send me your thoughts. Posting in 'comments' is also good.

Back to the Present

It has been a marathon of posting tonight, but now I am back to the present. We had two delighful adventures this week. Amid the horrors of writing a textbook in one week with almost no interaction from peers, a few sunshiny spots are extra nice.

The first was my Japanese lesson. These are the highlight of my week. I really do like Japanese (even though I am a painfully lazy student) and I love my Japanese teacher. I know I've said so before, but she really is the best. One of her designs is going to be featured in Garr Reynolds' new book (the author of Presentation Zen). I don't know what the new book is called, but I am excited to see it.

Of course, as you all probably know by now, the really, really great part about Japanese lesson days is the post lesson coffee shop cake eating. This week we went to a very trendy shop Russell and I had seen when out walking. It is called Shin and has a display case full of miniscule desserts that are truly all about the presentation. It was fun to go once, but these cakes were my least favorite of all the places we have been. A big plus, however, and one that may well entice me back to this cafe, was the amazing hot chocolate. Real, made from bittersweet chocolate hot chocolate. It was delicious. It happened to be a bit chilly and rainy that day, so perfect for hot chocolate. (Don't worry, the rain and cold was a one day fluke, we are back to lovely not too hot sunny weather now).
Of course, I took pictures (as seems to be the custom when you go to a coffee shop to eat cake). The standard Japanese cake seems to involve layers of very light and fluffy cake with large layers of cream and glazed fruit on top. Either that or a glazed fruit tart. There is usually a rich chocolate cake option, too. Some of the cake shops we have been to offer a wide range of specialty cakes - the first place we went to had an Amish cake that was magnificent, for example - but Shin was definitely just about doing the basics in the classiest way possible.

The second adventure is fresh from today. We finally ordered a pizza! I had had some pizza at work when a colleague ordered some for an office pizza party. This is the first pizza Russell has had since coming to Japan. Pretty hard to believe, huh? Its not for lack of pizza. We get ads in our mailbox all the time. Its certainly not for lack of interest, either. There are a combination of factors that have held us off, though. The first is that we are trying to be good about what we eat. There are so many healthy options to choose from, it seems unfortunate to load up on greasy pizza. The even bigger reason, though, is that pizza in Japan is REALLY expensive and often comes in flavors that just don't appeal to the western palate. From the pizza party at work, I had been introduced to a pizza brand that seemed very in line with what I expect from American delivery pizza. There are, of course, some fascinating topping options (mayonnaise, seafood and corn are present on the majority of pizza options, for example) but there were some pretty basic options too. We got a regular pizza (think US medium) with half 4 cheese pizza (mozzarella, parmesan, camembert and brie) and half crazy mix with pepperoni, sausage, bacon, corn, olive and onion. Both very straight forward options. At a price of $30 for that one medium pizza, we weren't really willing to be adventurous unless the end result sounded DELICIOUS. For that price we are not going to be repeating this adventure any time soon, but it was absolutely delightful to order a pizza online, spend the wait time doing dishes, and then eat and throw away the box. I am very much enjoying my spotless kitchen - at least until tomorrow, breakfast time.

Russell the Social Butterfly

As I mentioned at the end of my last post, I got to hear all sorts of good stories from Russell about how he filled the time while I was away. Of course, he was working during the day, but he had all this free time in the evenings...

The first story I heard was that Russell went out running shortly after I left and on the way home, he hear someone playing guitar in the park. Intrigued and probably not so interested in sitting in the house alone all night, Russell went up to the guy and struck up a conversation (I can only presume in Japanese) The conversation and guitar playing lasted until 4 in the morning. The week was off to a good start.

Another day there was a summer festival going on at the shrine on the corner of our street. There were food vendors and all the neighborhood people, so Russell went to check it out. After hanging around a while, he decided to head down to one of the neighborhood izakayas (like a bar, or tapas bar). When he arrived the hostess said she had just seen him at the festival. She asked where I was (because apparently having two foreigners drop in on a local bar makes an impression and is not quickly forgotten.) Russell told her that I was away in America for the week, so she made sure to spend extra time chatting with Russell and by the end of the evening, Russell had been invited into the men's table where all the local men gather after work and shoot the breeze - mostly about politics that particular night because the election was coming up.)

I know I am forgetting a few other stories of this nature, but that last one segues nicely into another story, so I'm going to shamelessly head off on a complete tangent and probably abandon the first topic...

The other night, Russell and were walking back from dropping off a movie. I had work to do, but Russell was getting a little house-happy and wanted to stay out a while longer. I suggested he go down to the local izakaya (the same place mentioned above). He thought it over and then decided a beer and a change of scene did sound appealing. I headed home and started working. About an hour later, Russell returned bearing gifts. The izakaya lady had send a bag of cookies and treats to me because - when asked where his wife was this time - Russell had mentioned that I was working late. I took a picture of my haul. Pretty good, huh? We enjoyed them for days.

Naturally, I couldn't help but go the next time. We went back this last Friday and I took a few Oregon toffees to share with the Izakaya lady as a thank you. She told us she would split them up and share them around the bar - wish we had brought something a little bigger! The only picture I have of any of these stories is the one I took of Russell in the Izakaya on our last drop in. I believe he was saying something to the effect of "I look terrible, don't take a picture of me!" Too bad, though, blogs without pictures are boring.

My Week in Oregon

One of the reasons there were so few posts in August was because I took 10 days to return to Oregon. This is probably not news for most of you who are still checking in on the blog. I was accompanying a group of 25 students from the University where I teach in Japan to the University where I used to teach in Oregon. I was on duty for the first four days of the trip - making sure students got settled and checking in with University folks, etc.

It wasn't all work, though, and during those first four or five days I managed to pack a lot of side activities in - mostly in the evening when the students were settled in. One highlight was the chance to meet up with some high school friends, who were in town for a high school reunion. I got to stay with my father and his lovely significant other. This led to one of the best (and most unexpected) highlights of those first four days - a Norwegian feast! I am definitely a fan of Norwegian goat cheese - which, it turns out, I can get here in Kobe (at an exorbitant price). Maybe for a special occasion...


Another highlight was definitely seeing my kitties. They have been living the good life with some Russell's coworkers. They seemed to be thoroughly spoiled and content. I don't think Manu (the black cat) was too interested in seeing me again, but I did get clear recognition from Mavis (the mostly white cat). She popped up right away when she heard my voice. I was happy she hadn't forgotten me, though I can tell she is quite cozy in her new digs.

And another highlight that cannot go unmentioned, the chance to meet up with the knitting club from the English department at the University. It was wonderful to see old friends and do some mutual bellyaching about working conditions. It was amazing how similar our situations turned out to be. Who would have though? Catching up with everyone was wonderful. I miss working with every one of them and I especially miss the tight-knit (no pun intended, ouch!) community.

After everything was settled at the university, I took a day off to spend with my mother-in-law. She showed me her growing menagerie on the new farm (two steers and three goats) and then we headed to the beach for a very long walk and a lot of catching up. It really is amazing how much has happened in the short (no really, count the months) time that we have beenin Japan.

From there I moved out of my dad's house and into my mom's house. Mom and I tore up and down I-5 for about three days. We visited my brother in Eugene and had another nice long catching up session. Jared was off to Burning Man shortly after I saw him. I haven't heard how it went, but I hope he had a good time. Next, mom and I headed up to the Portland area for some shopping. I am much more stylish now. Lots more chatting followed the shopping and once again, it felt very good to catch up on everything that has been happening. Of course, we talk all the time online, but its not the same as talking to someone in person.

Finally, I ended my stay in Portland with some friends, I thought I was going to have one extra day, but I was reading my ticket wrong and had to leave a day earlier than I had been planning. That meant I did not get to see many of my good friends in Portland that I had been hoping to connect with, but I did fit a lot into one fabulous day with Justin and Michelle. The night that I arrived we played board games and then went out around midnight for some outstanding pie from Whiffies. This was deep fried pie in a pocket - both savory pies and sweet pies - not slices of pie. If you live in Portland and don't know Whiffies, I highly recommend it for some late night munching. The next day we went to Pittock Mansion (which is worth it if you haven't been), did some letterboxing which required a three (four?) mile hike around Hoyt Arboretum, and enjoyed some excellent Portland beer. I am seriously in love with Portland, I have to say. Nowhere else is like it.

So that's what I was up to during those weeks of silence. I will post about what Russell was up to during my absence as well. Of course, I know less of this (perhaps for the better?) But he did have some excellent stories to tell.

Way Back from August

I was looking back at old pictures and I realized that I left several adventures out of the blog because I was so darn busy finishing up the term and getting ready for my trip to Oregon. I figured I would go back in time and post about some of what happened in August.

First: More fireworks.

I did post about the fireworks we went to in Kobe, but there were more fireworks the following weekend in Osaka. These promised to be even more of a scene, so of course we went. In fact, trying to prove that yes, we can improve on a good thing, we decided to go extra early this time and stake claim to a good seat. The problem was that we didn't know where the fireworks would be. A friend said that everyone goes to the Juuso train stop to see the fireworks, so we headed that direction. We arrived at about 2pm (fireworks weren't going to start until about 7 or 8) and sure enough, there were signs everywhere pointing out the way to the river. We found the river, saw the parallel river of food vendors and decided we were in the right place. Almost no one was there yet - just a few intrepid watchers like ourselves starting to pick out grassy spots near the walk way. The bank was rather steep, but if you got your butt close enough to the walk way it was flat enough that you generally stayed where you intended to be.
It was hot this particular day. Really penetratingly hot. We had stopped at a convenience store on the way to the river and picked up some jugs of tea and water and some frozen jugs of tea that we could drink later on after they had thawed. We also spotted a picnicking tarp and a black parasol/umbrella. We felt very prepared. We even had video games and books from home. We hunkered down for a long, hot wait - under the parasol. One of my activities for the day was to try and capture a few good pictures of girls in Yukatas to show on the blog, but its not really okay to take pictures of others clandestinely, and taking fast pictures usually doesn't work out so well. The closest I got was a quick shot of a pair setting up camp below us.

About 5pm the food vendors really started to open. I tried to take pictures to show just how extensive this row of vendors was. You could see lit tents winding all the way along the river with no break as far as you could see. They were on each side of a walk that paralelled the river and the walk between the carts was absolutely packed tight with fireworks goers. Especially once it got dark. The majority of vendors were selling fair food - shish-kebab, fruit-kebab, baby castella (cakes), octopus balls, yakisoba and all manner of other tasty items, There were also a few game carts where you could win stuffed animals, goldfish, or - get this - baby turtles. The turtles were the most popular that night. There were a number of stands and hundreds of baby turtles at each. I really wonder what happens to the poor things in the long run. We did see several ponds that looked pretty well stocked in weeks past.

By fireworks time all of the slope below us was covered with people - which was amazing because it was so steep it was truly difficult to stay on it. By the end of the fireworks everyone was a few feet farther down the slope than they had started. In any case, we were all ready for the show. The first few fireflowers (as they are called in Japanese) went up.... and we realized we were pretty damn far away. In fact, the show was on the other side of the bridge we could see in the distance. Damn! That had not been the intention - though it now made sense why no one else had really shown up until closer to 7. Oh well. Live and learn. We will be ready next year. The show was much more impressive than the Kobe show, but it was so far away that it was not that much different than watching on a television. Of course, street food did still make the trip very worth it. We enjoyed what we could see of the fireworks and ate well. What more can we really ask for?

A Day in the Life...

As the result of popular demand (two emails from my grandmother) I will now describe the mundane details of my average day.

Ahem...

Morning: I usually wake up around 6:00am, shower, make breakfast and veg in front of news feeds on my computer until just before 7:00 when I head to the train. That schedule has been pushed back an hour during the summer when students are out of school because the bus schedule has been reduced to only one bus at 8:30. No need to leave the house until 8:00. For breakfast, I usually eat brown rice topped either with natto (fermented, stinky, slimy, stringy soy beans) and green onions OR banana, peanuts and raisins with a tiny bit of milk to help it all stick together. I refer to the latter as "Japanese Oatmeal" although I'm pretty sure there isn't a Japanese person in the world who eats this. The former option is a perfectly normal breakfast and probably directly contributes to the country's longevity.

After getting ready, I walk down the hill to the train station - about 10 minutes. I try to say good morning to any elderly ladies I meet, which usually gets me smiles and hearty "good morning"s back, so I keep doing it. I have not been so lucky engaging the men in niceties - so far only a few confused scowls a some teasing. No thank you. I believe it is actually pretty rare to talk to strangers in Japan. With the exception of old ladies, I think everyone is pretty much happier to avoid engaging in conversation.

The trains arrive exactly on the scheduled minute. The only time they fail seems to be when the weather is really nasty or if someone commits suicide - which happens periodically. Surprisingly little considering how many people use the trains and how absent they are of any safety measures to prevent suicide.... but its still pretty sad. The incidents have apparently gone up in the latest economic depression.

I take the train to Sannomiya (the shopping district in the heart of the city and essentially the center of activity for Kobe) and then I transfer either to the light rail (the Portliner) that runs out to the island where I work, or to a bus (if you time it right, its a luxury bus instead of a city bus). The bus is way more convenient, cheap and less crowded, so I do what I can to catch it in the morning. If i miss it - or arrive before it starts at 8:03, I take the Portliner. Of course, when I'm good I try to walk either from my house, or the second half from Sannomiya to my school. I haven't been good in quite a while, though, due to heat and humidity.

At school

Once I'm at school, my morning consists of last minute prep for classes, then two hour-and-a-half English classes. Some days I only teach one of those blocks, but teaching two is fairly common. After I teach I usually head to the cafeteria at the school next door. I like the food there better (though my school's cafeteria is way better than anything I ever got in a cafeteria in the US - no chicken nuggets!). At the cafeterias I've been to in Kobe, the standard procedure is to buy a ticket from a machine for whatever meal you want (there are usually 7 or 8 set menu items and 3-5 rotating meals) then I take it to the counter, get the food and have a seat.

After lunch, I head back to the school. For most of the teachers the afternoon is free for lesson planning and chatting with students - which is a feature the school promotes heavily. There are a handful of students that don't really come to class, but get pretty good at English by hanging out and shooting the breeze with a bunch of native English speakers. Fall term I often had at least one afternoon class because I was teaching elective English classes to the students who were returning from the US, and classes to prepare the new crop of students for studying abroad. We still don't have schedules for next term, so I am not sure what my situation will be, then.

At about 5:30 - usually closer to 6:00 I head home. I usually just do my morning commute in reverse. I need to start trying to find conversation partners to meet with after work, but so far I haven't been able to convince myself I have the energy. I always find the energy once I'm sitting in front of someone with a cup of coffee, though, so I should just bite the bullet and do it. We'll see. SInce I am suppose to be describing a typical day and not a wished for day, let's just say I do the commute in reverse, walk to the grocery store behind the station and get either prepared food or ingredients for something Russell or I have plotted out, and then head back up the hill to home.

Evening

In the evening I usually sit in front of my computer and dig around for as much news as I can find. I do slip in a few web comics and occasionally I actually study Japanese. At some point, either Russell or I get hungry enough to cook dinner and then we get back on our computers. It is fairly frequent that I have work that I brought home to do. That usually comes out after dinner when my brain turns back on. Compared to the amount of at-home work I did in Oregon, though, this is quite reasonable. Maybe only an hour or two - unless I make the mistake of assigning essays and then make the double mistake of insisting on collecting them. That can take longer. I'm not really asked to do that, though, so I don't do it too often. Some time around 11pm or midnight I usually get up and get ready for bed. I much prefer to flop over on our floor cushions and just sleep there, but that bothers Russell (who catches the brunt of the bad mood that follows such a sleeping arrangement), so I usually get harassed into my proper bed. I try to remember to set up the rice cooker so it will go off at the appropriate time in the morning. I love having a programmable rice cooker!

The only real variations on this routine during the week is an occasional Japanese lesson on Thursday (though we prefer to meet on Saturday and then go to a cafe for cake afterwards) and now a TOEFL/English conversation lesson I give to a Chinese guy who asked for help. I meet him Wednesday after work. Sometimes, I arrive in Sannomiya about the time Russell is finishing with a conversation partner, so then we sometimes just eat out before heading home. There are so many places to eat in Sannomiya there is no reason to ever repeat a restaurant - though we have established a few favorite haunts.

Weekends are, unfortunately, similarly predictable. That will have to wait until a future post, though.

If anyone else would like to make any requests for information, feel free to leave a comment or contact me by email.

Oh, the news...

One unexpected outcome of moving to Japan is that I have become a bit of a news enthusiast. Not just U.S. news (though I do usually check that most often) but also Japanese news, BBC and world news in general. The news has replaced web-comics as my favored form of entertainment after work. Some days this can be depressing, but then there's days like today.

Warning: What started as a light case of eye-rolling at the news got a bit heavy handed and rant-ish below. Feel free to skip this post and or skim heavily. I've spent too much time writing to delete it now...

Out of the Good 'Ole US of A:

Charging a Tourism fee to fund advertising for US tourism abroad. First of all, I'm pretty sure the US makes back any money spent on tourism advertisements. I mean, the idea is that tourists come to the US, spend lots of money and then go home again. Businesses take that money, pay taxes on it, and the government is reimbursed. Charging admission seems to do the opposite. It makes coming to the US a more costly venture up front, and to add insult to injury, the plan is to make the fee only payable with debit or credit card. A rather large number of families outside of the US (certainly the majority in Japan) do not use debit or credit cards. How's that suppose to increase tourism? This hasn't passed congress yet - hopefully it won't. I'm sure they see all manner of wonky bills.

Update: I was just thinking... instead of taxing foreign people for the privilege to spend money in our country, wouldn't it make more sense to tax American tourists leaving the country for the privilege to take US dollars abroad? That way we know that the the tourists have credit cards, we know that $10 a head is not a huge hardship, and we discourage outflow of money in order to increase inflow of money. What do you think? Or we could just forget the whole thing...

More from the homeland:

Do you guys know about "Smart Choice" over there? I hadn't heard about it until today. I'm not sure how widespread it is or how much attention it is getting. The premise (if you are as uninformed as me) is that food companies pay this not-for-profit organization to rate their products and put green check marks on the front of those the organization consider to be "smart choices" - foods that are, in theory, nutritionally sound. The organization drew a bit of fire, though, when foods like Froot Loops got the green check. Here's a link to the article I was reading if you're interested in the Smart Choice article from the New York Times.
My favorite part is the comment from the chairlady pointing out the absolutely valid point that when mothers are trying to choose breakfast for their son or daughter and have to make the decision between Froot Loops and, say, doughnuts, Froot Loops is clearly healthier. Now, the article does point out that there is set criteria to determine the healthfulness of foods - no one is bending rules to sneak a green check onto Froot Loops. It just doesn't say much for the criteria. I think the bonus points for high levels of vitamin C beat out the 42% refined sugar problem. Wasn't the point of this project to help with obesity? And since when do children eat only one serving of ANYTHING? Let alone Froot Loops?

Okay, now on to Japan -

This one at least is just amusing - no ranting required. At least, not from me.
The Mainichi Daily News reported two days ago that the largest Yakuza (organized crime) group in Japan has started giving out "gangter tests." The content of the test is actually designed to ensure that its members are familiar with the newly revised Anti-Organized Crime Law that came out recently and hopefully to reduce the number of lawsuits filed against them. This seems perfectly reasonable, but the image of aspiring gangsters having to sit entrance exams makes me chuckle a bit.

Sorry for the rant-y bits. That wasn't the initial intention. Alas.

Quick Update

Nothing super exciting is going on, but I thought I should post SOMETHING. My week has been divided three ways:

1. Writing a listening and speaking textbook for Fall term.

2. Fighting INTO OSU over housing issues for our students who are studying at OSU right now.

3. Studying a new and especially diabolic grammar point my Japanese teacher sprung on me last week.

I did manage to do two loads of laundry today and get them hung out to dry without breaking a sweat or even interrupting my studies. I love my washing machine.

Alas

Swine Flu alert is back on today. There is no strong concern in Kobe yet, but the flu is surging in some areas and everyone is really nervous about what will happen when students come back to school.

Out comes the rubbing alcohol.

So far the face masks have not reemerged en force. I did take advantage of the slow season to buy less dorky looking masks, though. Hopefully, if shamed into wearing one this fall, I will actually be able to go through with it.