Amanda’s Blog

☆☆　8th April - Tuesday　☆☆

My first day staying with the Oi family was a big relief! Izumi is my dad’s employee’s wife’s niece’s student and as I’d only ever seen a photo of her kids I had no idea who was going to meet me at the station! Of course we’d talked through emails but not a whole lot and most of it was in Japanese so I wasn’t sure if she could speak much English, fortunately I was to be pleasantly surprised. Izumi speaks English really well and has a huge vocabulary so communication wasn’t a problem at all. I was also really impressed with her kids, they’ve been learning English using a Disney Learning System since they were babies. If I hadn’t met these kids I wouldn’t have believed it was possible to learn to understand, speak and even think in English through just books and DVDs (even Izumi knew no English when they first started) but they really are extraordinary. Kaito (the eldest brother) is attending an English school for high school students and adults even though he is only in year 1. Hiroto (who is 4 years old) sounds like he was raised in America and prefers to watch tv in English (they have bilingual channels over here). Izumi was telling me that after a child is 10 months old they lose the ability to easily pick up a second language and naturally switch between the two. So instead of hearing an English word, translating it into Japanese, thinking of an answer in Japanese and translating that into English, her kids can hear in English and directly respond in English. As they get older it’s harder for them to keep using English because they’re surrounded by Japanese during most of the day, but these two have really had a head start.

Anyway, they live in a mansion (in Japanese that means large apartment) right near Nagashima train station. Nagashima used to be it’s own city but now it’s more like a suburb within Kuwana City. Izumi said that her house was small but it’s much bigger than I expected (bigger than my place!) and I have a whole room to myself. It’s usually Izumi and her husband’s room but they moved to share a room with the kids so I could use it. I felt bad and protested at first but their clothes are kept in the other room so it’s more convenient for them too. I sleep on a futon on a tatami bed and have a remote control for the lights, it’s cool. ^_^

School started on the Monday so the kids were on half days and came home pretty early in the afternoon. Most days either Kaito or Hiroto has English school and Kaito also goes to Abacus school. When the kids got home from school today we went to the local library so I could borrow some books to help me with my Japanese. They didn’t have many helpful books so I just got a couple of bilingual stories and a grammar book. Bilingual books are really useful because they save you a lot of time if there are words you don’t know, unfortunately they’re kind of hard to find and expensive. Izumi has a really good book with lots of everyday phrases so I might look at getting something like that.

At dinnertime it was just the four of us as the dad doesn’t get home until after 10pm on weekdays. We had a Japanese style meal which involved a whole fish each to pick at though the kids and I weren’t very good at it. They don’t eat Japanese food all the time though and like to try Chinese and Italian style cooking etc. After the kids had gone to bed and I’d had a bath, the host dad came home. His name is Naoto and his English is “berry not good”. He’s a funny guy and really nice but pretty shy until he’s had some sake. He also loves golf and always flicks the tele to the 24hr golf channel.

☆☆　9th April - Wednesday　☆☆

Today Izumi’s friend Megumi came over for lunch and brought along a yukata for me to try on. They said that in the old days people used to wear yukata as pyjamas but it’s been pretty cold so I wasn’t going to try it. Here is a picture of me!

 

And the back… (small image only)

For lunch we had ham, cheese and pickle sandwiches. Izumi tried mustard pickles in Perth and wanted to buy them in Japan but couldn’t find them anywhere. So, she made her own! I was surprised the taste was nearly the same. It was good to eat something really familiar, the taste took me back to my Nana’s house. ^_^

☆☆　10th April - Thursday　☆☆

Remember how I said Izumi was my dad’s employee’s wife’s niece’s student? Well, today I met that lady. Her name is Gigi and the class I went to was a conversation class they set up for mothers where they can bring along their children. Gigi emailed me before I came to Japan and asked me to put together a little photo album so I could talk to the students about my life in Australia. Most of the lesson was just me talking about my photos which I thought was a bit boring but Gigi said it’s good for them to hear a natural speaker. They were really surprised when I got to the photo of my mum, the entire group leaned forward and said “え〜？！” (eh~?!) because they couldn’t believe how young she looks. This isn’t the first time this has happened either, I’d say I’ve showed about 4 different groups of people my photo album and get the same reaction every time. So Mum, if you ever wanted to be a movie star, Japan will welcome you with open arms!

After class Izumi, Hiroto and I had lunch with Gigi at a kaiten (rotating) sushi restaurant. Hiroto sat next to the food which was a big mistake as he just grabbed whatever and put it on the table! I stuck to foods I recognised though I reluctantly tried squid and it wasn’t too bad. Hiroto’s favourite was egg so I tried that too and it was really yummy. It was nice talking to Gigi, she’s a really friendly and energetic person and I hope I get to see her again.

☆☆　11th April - Friday　☆☆

Today Izumi and I went to Megumi’s house for lunch. I’m not sure if I mentioned before but Izumi just works casually and has put her job on hold while I’m here so I have been hanging out with her everyday. Anyway, we had 肉じゃが (nikujaga) which is meat and potato stew and then some chocolates for sweets. Megumi loves arts and crafts so made me a cute apron and also gave me a pretty hair clip! I don’t know if mums in Australia do the same thing but Izumi and her friends all seem to wear aprons most of the day, I think it’s kinda sweet. Actually it seems to be quite common over here to dress things up with lace, ribbon and flowers (which seems very English to me). In the evening I put on the apron and Izumi took a photo of me. We were trying to decide where to take the photo and then we both said “in the kitchen!”. Hahaha.

We were going to have ebi-fry (fried prawns) for dinner so Izumi taught me how to deep-fry. I’d never done it before but it’s not too hard and is very similar to deep frying in Cooking Mama! You just put them in, wait for them to float to the top and turn a nice golden colour, then fish them out. Here’s a photo of Izumi deep frying some potatoes and Kaito being silly.

☆☆　12th April - Saturday　☆☆

Naoto was home today for the weekend so we all headed off on a day trip to Iga and Nara (2-3 hour drive). First stop was a Ninja House in Iga (Mie Prefecture is famous for it’s ninja history). We were lucky to be going during the Ninja Festival where lots of people dress up in ninja costume (even dogs!), and we did too! So here is Ninja Amanda with Ninja Izumi, Ninja Kaito and Chibi Ninja Hiroto→

Myself, Kaito (black) and Hiroto (red) →

And here’s another photo of the cutest ninja ever →

Before we entered the Ninja House we watched a weapon demonstration. It was really cool to see a real katana and shuriken being used and we got to try throwing shuriken too. They also did a couple of choreographed fights which were pretty cool.

Next we entered the Ninja House. It’s basically an old style Japanese house but there are hidden doors and tunnels, secret ways of getting in and out, a hidden staircase and places to store weapons. The tour is quite short but entertaining and afterwards there’s a museum to wander through with heaps of real ninja stuff (plus explanations in English!) and a gift shop. Apart from the ninja stuff there’s also a castle and places to eat. Kaito and I had ninja-ramen which is just like normal ramen but you have to find the meat and vegetables because they’re ‘hiding’ under the noodles - cute! Here’s a photo of the castle →

After Iga we got in the car again and drove to Nara to see Daibutsu - the largest Buddha statue in Japan. Surrounding the temple containing Daibutsu is a big park full of deer that you can feet and pat (though they’re kinda dirty!). Because they’re used to people feeding them they follow you around if they see you’ve got food and I saw one lady being chased by about 6 of them. Me feeding deer →

Todaiji temple is really cool and I really appreciated having Izumi there to explain everything to me. Before you go inside you first have to wash your hands at a little trough thing next to the temple. Well, you’re supposed to but not everyone does it. First you take a ladel with your right hand and scoop up some water. Then pour some of the water on your left hand to wash it. Next you take the ladel with your left hand and pour water into your right hand to clean it. After that you pour water into one of your hands and take a sip. Finally, you scoop up the water one more time and hold the ladel in such a way that the water runs down the handle (so as to clean it for the next person) and then put the ladel back.

Gate on the way to the temple →

Up the top of the stairs to the temple there’s a big pot-like thing with a flame in the middle and lots of incense sticks around it. You breathe in the smoke and wish for good health and you can also donate a coin and stick in an incense stick yourself (which is what I’m doing in the next photo). Before you wish for things you usually have to make a small donation to the temple.

Next we went inside the temple to see Daibutsu. As expected he was pretty huge, each finger is the size of a human and he weighs 500 tonnes (thanks Wikipedia). In front of him there’s another box for you to throw money into then you put your hands together and make a wish. I made a wish too but it’s a secret. :3 Surrounding Daibutsu there are a few other statues which are protectors and there’s also a miniature of the temple on display which was built by people in prison.

One of the pillars in the temple has a small hole in the base of it which is big enough for kids or a slim adult to go through. I think you get blessed with wisdom or something if you can make it through. Here’s a picture of Kaito and Hiroto going through the “nostril”→

There’s a little souvenir shop inside the temple (which is I think is a bit tacky) and I bought a fluffy deer key ring and some postcards. There is also a fortune teller and I’d never been to one before so thought I’d give it a go. I paid the old man and shook a box and a number came out - 10. Then he opened the corresponding drawer in a chest that he sat next to and pulled out my fortune, conveniently printed in both Japanese and English. He was surprised because I got the luckiest number and this is what it said…

You can hold on to the fortune but most people tie them to a pole outside the temple so I did the same. Near the poles there’s another (kinda creepy-looking) statue. Again there’s a box in front of him where you throw some money but then you have to rub part of his body and then the same part of your own body to heal any ailments there. I had been pretty sniffly and wanted to get better but I couldn’t reach his nose so just went for the hand. Maybe I didn’t give him enough money or something but I certainly got worse before I got better!

After the temple we wandered through some souvenir shops and then headed back to Kuwana for dinner. We had yakiniku (fried meat) at a restaurant and Izumi tricked me into eating cow intestines. Ick! It didn’t taste too bad but was kinda crunchy and I didn’t like it very much. I liked it even less when I found out it was intestines. Anyway, it was probably the biggest meal I’ve had since coming here and I was totally stuffed! They ordered heaps because Naoto has a bottomless stomach haha. It was really good of him to come along because he was quite sick and probably should have stayed home! Anyway, we all had a really great day and I felt very lucky to have such lovely people taking care of me.

☆☆　13th April - Sunday　☆☆

Today I realised that I was indeed sick with a cold and so was glad that we were going to take it easy. First off we went to a second hand bookstore called “Book-Off” which has heaps and heaps of really cheap books in very good condition. Most manga is only ￥105 ($1.07) and they also have cheap dvd and games. I ended up buying three manga - a cute love story that I’ve forgotten the name of, Ranma 1/2 and Deathnote. I also bought a cooking book that shows you how to make cute Japanese bento boxes - click here if you’ve never seen one before.

After the bookstore we went to a video rental place (that also sells books, dvds and video games) and hired out a few movies. The first we watched was an action movie “Limit of Love - Umizaru II“. I understood the whole story, only a couple of things needed clarification but that’s because it’s a stupid action movie with a pretty simple script! It was quite enjoyable though. Next was “Maiko Haaaan!!” which is a comedy set in Kyoto about a guy who is obsessed with Maiko (Geisha in training). This had a lot more talk and was harder to understand but it was funny and I still really liked it. I probably would have liked it even more if I were able to understand all the jokes in it! The last movie was “Laputa - Castle in the Sky” and is a Studio Ghibli animation. This time I had subtitles so understood it all, hooray! I liked this movie too though I think the ending is a little strange, maybe it’s just me. Anyone else seen it?

Well, this takes us to the end of my first week in Nagashima. I’m sort of 2 weeks behind on my blog so sorry, but I’ll do my best to get the rest up here. I have all my photos organised so I know what I did on what day, it’s just that writing and resizing photos takes a lot of time. Thanks for reading everyone. xx

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On Sunday the 6th of April I went to the Ayumi Hamasaki concert at Yoyogi Stadium in Harajuku! I got there quite early and met up with a couple of people from the internet and the three of us were the only non-Japanese people there. First things first, I went to the merchandise stands and bought myself some Ayumi goodies. I got a towel, a keyring and a litte handbag. Here’s a photo of me outside the stadium.

I wish that I could have taken some photos of the concert because the set was amazing. They hardly checked for my camera but I didn’t want to take any just in case I got in trouble. My seat was C2-34 which was halfway from the stage and to the left. I was relieved to have a pretty good seat because I paid ￥18,000 for a ticket that had ￥7,800 printed on it. Turns out that all tickets are sold at the same price and then bought by ticket resellers who adjust the price according to the position. Here is a photo I took from my seat before the concert started.

As you can see the stage started out draped with red material, however, the stage changed many times throughout the concert. After every two or three songs Ayumi would change costume and during that time a video introduction of the next song would play on the big screen in the middle and two smaller screens on either side of the stage. After the first costume change the red material fell to reveal white material on which pink squares were projected to match the dancer’s costumes. The biggest change to the main stage was when all the material fell to the ground to reveal a gold stage. It was so grand and looked like real metal! In another part of the show, Ayumi was strapped to a round piece of wood (the kind they’d use in a circus to throw knives at people) and as she was singing it started spinning! So she was singing upside down and it was awesome! Also, there was a round stage in the middle of B block that she sang on and it rose up a couple of meters so everyone could see her. During one of her songs, Marionette, a merry-go-round like border rose up around the stage and looked just like the set in her video clip. Here’s what the video looks like:

It was so cool! The last change to the stage was the best, during the costume change a video about a pirate ship was playing (which seemed a little random) and then when the lights turned back on there was a huge pirate ship on the stage! I thought it was just a 2D cardboard cut-out at first but as Ayu stood on it it started to rotate around and smoke billowed out from underneath it. So awesome! It was well worth the money and yes, I cried out of pure joy for the first 2-3 songs. ^^;;

The next day it was time for me to say goodbye to Sakura Hostel and head to Kuwana. I’ll really miss the hostel and all the people I met, I made a new friend nearly every day! I’ll definitely stay there again one day. Anyway, off I went with my heavy suitcase to Tokyo station. I’m glad that I’m in Japan, hopefully people didn’t understand me muttering ‘fuck’ as I struggled to drag my baggage up and down flights of stairs. Tokyo station was much better as they have lifts and escalators but the other stations didn’t seem to have them. Buying the shinkansen ticket was pretty straight forward and there was no need to get a reserved ticket. The ride was nice and comfortable (shinkansen seats are a bit like aeroplane seats because they tilt back and you get a little tray except on a shinkansen there’s much more leg room) and behind the last row of seats at the back of the carriage there’s plenty of room for you to shove a suitcase or two. At the station (and also on the train) you can buy a bento box to eat during the ride. I got the Hanami Bento because it was pretty, but some of it tasted kind of weird so next time I think I’ll get the Pokemon one. ^^

After a few hours I arrived at Nagashima Station, was greeted by my host mum, Izumi and host brothers, Kaito (7) and Hiroto (4) and so began the next chapter of my trip!

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