The first fish I caught.
Yamabi's fish. 
A puffed up puffer fish.
Showing posts with label Hachinohe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hachinohe. Show all posts
Saturday, September 4, 2010
Fishing
mean to complain about that in this post. While fishing is not usually my favorite activity it was nice to be out doing something just guys. I caught a fish in the first five minutes we were there. Not to sound like a fish story but at about 6 inches it was the biggest one all day. Today I went fishing in Hachinohe with some of my friends. I was the first time since coming here that I have done something the was just some guy time. It was really nice. With there being so few young people in town having friends close to my age has been tough. Oh well I didn'tYamabi caught a tiny fish next and then we had a dry spell for a few hours so we went to a different place. There were some other tinny fish caught but the real strange thin was the fugu (puffer fish). At the last place we went I caught a puffer. Then another puffer. Then Kawamura caught a puffer. Then I caught another puffer. Yamabi even caught a flat fish today. Before anyone worries we put the puffers back in and didn't even consider eating them. Sorry for the quality of the pictures they were from my cell phone.
The first fish I caught.
Yamabi's fish. 
A puffed up puffer fish.
The first fish I caught.Yamabi's fish. A puffed up puffer fish.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Two Weeks In Tohoku
For those of you who hadn't heard my parents just came to visit us for 2 weeks. Now, I know what all my college friends are thinking 2 weeks with their parents in a paper house sounds difficult, to be diplomatic. Well, it was actually a lot of fun. They came during a period here called Golden Week. Golden Week is a magical time when 4 national holidays happen in the same week giving the whole country a nice time off. Its also when if you live in the frozen north the cherry blossoms finally bloom and everything starts to get warm. We were able to do a ton of really cool stuff thanks to holiday and my Chokai JHS school principle who is a great guy. I will be braking this post into discriptions and pictures of the places we went so here we go on Two Weeks in Tohoku.
Sendai
I didn't bring my camera to pick them up in Sendai so all Sendai pictures are by my father. I really thought that it would be mostly pick them and head back home. However, they got pretty good on the Japanese time right away. We walked around town the day after we arrived. We found a Cherry Blossom Festival in Sendai park, my parents got to see the famous Sakura (cherry blossoms) and eat some mochi. There really aren't to many famous places in Sendai the park, train station, and shopping areas are it. We were lucky and found a craft fair in part of the city. There were a lot of people selling hand made cloths and jewelery. One of the most interesting was the ring you see below. After that picture is the festival we saw.
The only bad part of the Sendai stay was the hotel. I got us a 3 person room to save money and it was so incredibly small. There were 3 beds and no place to set your feet.
Ichinohe
There were a lot of things that we did in Ichinohe. They got to go to all but one of my schools which let them see me teach class and press them into helping teach class. My kids were excited to meet them and ask them questions. At Kozuya we got lucky and they ate lunch with the kids. Mom didn't finish her whole school lunch which does not happen. One of the kids and I just starred at her unfinished soup confoundedly. The student dumped it out for her in the end. I was glad that my students were able to have the opportunity to talk to people who weren't their English teachers.
The house we live in here was interesting for them to. They were especially surprised by the toilet, which has a hand washing sink on top of it. The water that you wash your hands in fills the tank and then later goes into the bowl. The weather was a bit cool for them so they spent a lot of their time cold. Really it made me think about how used to the cold I have gotten. I mean I'm not really cold now but it hardly gets above 70 in the day here.
The big highlight of the time in Ichinohe was going to the Goshono Jomon historical site. About 15 minutes on foot out of town is a museum and park built around an archeology site. The Jomon people were the first people to make pottery in Japan. In the north of Japan they lived by hunting and fishing. Their houses were built partly under ground with log and dirt roofs. The museum was great in had a really cool theater and a lot of great pottery. The park had a rebuilt Jomon village in it that you could go into and even climb on. Pictures from here on mine.
Hachinohe
The Principle took my parents, Samantha and I to Hachinohe. In spite of heavy winds it was a great trip. We went to the Hachinohe city museum which I found frankly a bit odd. It jumped from Jomon pottery to the Samurai to modern technology in 3 huge leaps. By the museum was a castle reconstruction. It was an old castle with wooden walls really more like a small walled village then what you think when you here castle. The best part of it was they let us try on reproduction samurai armor. You can judge for your self who would have been the best samurai.
After the castle we went for a short ride on a small boat. A SHARK boat. Thats right the boat looked like a shark. We went around the harbor in Hachinohe and feed the sea gulls. They will eat right out of you hand. It is quite startling to have a shrimp cracker grabed from you hand by a sea gull. We also learned the Japanese word for sea gull is Umineko. They call sea gulls sea cats because of how they sound.
The next place was some where that we have blogged about before, the Hachinohe fish market. Or as I call it the Hank Williams fish market because they play only Hank Williams music. We got to see alot of really fresh fish and feasted and I mean feasted on it. We ate shrimp, beef, fired chicken, scallops, squid, and just plain fish until we were fit to burst then went to a bath house. There is nothing in the world more enjoyable then feasting and then sitting around in hot water. Japanese hot spring are something that we don't have in America that I will miss so much when we finally move back to America.
Lake Towada
Lake Towada is one of the largest lakes in all of Japan. There is a park around the lake that really looks alot like the Smokey Mountains. We got to walk around the park a bit and see the river that runs threw it and the snow melt coming down from the mountain. Lake Towada itself is huge, its so big that the boat ride we did on it took 50 minutes and crossed the narrowest part. The lake went right up to the mountain and shore was dotted with little island and inlets. To tell the truth it looked kind of like how I imagine the coast of Alaska to look, snow capped mountains, cold water, and a gray sky like it could snow or rain any minute.
Hirosaki
This is one of the top 3 most famous places to view cherry blossoms in all of Japan. We went on the best day of the whole season so it was packed. Its a park that used to have a castle and now mostly has cherry trees. There are literally thousands of them in every color cherry trees come in so just white and pink. However, it was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. There was one place that was a tunnel made of cherry trees. To be honest though if it had had a bit less people it would have been perfect. As it was there was a bit to much worry about getting split from the group to fully enjoy it. I'm really glad that my parents got to experience it though there is nothing like the crowds and the trees its something everyone who visits Japan should try and experience.
There is a lot more that we did that Samantha will pick up Thursday. All in all my parents trip here was great. I was proud to show off how much Japanese I knew and how I could get by here. I know that there are plenty of more famous places in Japan they could have gone to but I wanted them to see what my life here was like. Tokyo and Kyoto will be there next time.
Sendai
I didn't bring my camera to pick them up in Sendai so all Sendai pictures are by my father. I really thought that it would be mostly pick them and head back home. However, they got pretty good on the Japanese time right away. We walked around town the day after we arrived. We found a Cherry Blossom Festival in Sendai park, my parents got to see the famous Sakura (cherry blossoms) and eat some mochi. There really aren't to many famous places in Sendai the park, train station, and shopping areas are it. We were lucky and found a craft fair in part of the city. There were a lot of people selling hand made cloths and jewelery. One of the most interesting was the ring you see below. After that picture is the festival we saw.
The only bad part of the Sendai stay was the hotel. I got us a 3 person room to save money and it was so incredibly small. There were 3 beds and no place to set your feet.
Ichinohe
There were a lot of things that we did in Ichinohe. They got to go to all but one of my schools which let them see me teach class and press them into helping teach class. My kids were excited to meet them and ask them questions. At Kozuya we got lucky and they ate lunch with the kids. Mom didn't finish her whole school lunch which does not happen. One of the kids and I just starred at her unfinished soup confoundedly. The student dumped it out for her in the end. I was glad that my students were able to have the opportunity to talk to people who weren't their English teachers.
The house we live in here was interesting for them to. They were especially surprised by the toilet, which has a hand washing sink on top of it. The water that you wash your hands in fills the tank and then later goes into the bowl. The weather was a bit cool for them so they spent a lot of their time cold. Really it made me think about how used to the cold I have gotten. I mean I'm not really cold now but it hardly gets above 70 in the day here.
The big highlight of the time in Ichinohe was going to the Goshono Jomon historical site. About 15 minutes on foot out of town is a museum and park built around an archeology site. The Jomon people were the first people to make pottery in Japan. In the north of Japan they lived by hunting and fishing. Their houses were built partly under ground with log and dirt roofs. The museum was great in had a really cool theater and a lot of great pottery. The park had a rebuilt Jomon village in it that you could go into and even climb on. Pictures from here on mine.
Hachinohe
The Principle took my parents, Samantha and I to Hachinohe. In spite of heavy winds it was a great trip. We went to the Hachinohe city museum which I found frankly a bit odd. It jumped from Jomon pottery to the Samurai to modern technology in 3 huge leaps. By the museum was a castle reconstruction. It was an old castle with wooden walls really more like a small walled village then what you think when you here castle. The best part of it was they let us try on reproduction samurai armor. You can judge for your self who would have been the best samurai.
After the castle we went for a short ride on a small boat. A SHARK boat. Thats right the boat looked like a shark. We went around the harbor in Hachinohe and feed the sea gulls. They will eat right out of you hand. It is quite startling to have a shrimp cracker grabed from you hand by a sea gull. We also learned the Japanese word for sea gull is Umineko. They call sea gulls sea cats because of how they sound.
The next place was some where that we have blogged about before, the Hachinohe fish market. Or as I call it the Hank Williams fish market because they play only Hank Williams music. We got to see alot of really fresh fish and feasted and I mean feasted on it. We ate shrimp, beef, fired chicken, scallops, squid, and just plain fish until we were fit to burst then went to a bath house. There is nothing in the world more enjoyable then feasting and then sitting around in hot water. Japanese hot spring are something that we don't have in America that I will miss so much when we finally move back to America.
Lake Towada
Lake Towada is one of the largest lakes in all of Japan. There is a park around the lake that really looks alot like the Smokey Mountains. We got to walk around the park a bit and see the river that runs threw it and the snow melt coming down from the mountain. Lake Towada itself is huge, its so big that the boat ride we did on it took 50 minutes and crossed the narrowest part. The lake went right up to the mountain and shore was dotted with little island and inlets. To tell the truth it looked kind of like how I imagine the coast of Alaska to look, snow capped mountains, cold water, and a gray sky like it could snow or rain any minute.
Hirosaki
This is one of the top 3 most famous places to view cherry blossoms in all of Japan. We went on the best day of the whole season so it was packed. Its a park that used to have a castle and now mostly has cherry trees. There are literally thousands of them in every color cherry trees come in so just white and pink. However, it was one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. There was one place that was a tunnel made of cherry trees. To be honest though if it had had a bit less people it would have been perfect. As it was there was a bit to much worry about getting split from the group to fully enjoy it. I'm really glad that my parents got to experience it though there is nothing like the crowds and the trees its something everyone who visits Japan should try and experience.
There is a lot more that we did that Samantha will pick up Thursday. All in all my parents trip here was great. I was proud to show off how much Japanese I knew and how I could get by here. I know that there are plenty of more famous places in Japan they could have gone to but I wanted them to see what my life here was like. Tokyo and Kyoto will be there next time.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Hank Williams Fish Market
The other day my Principle from Chokai and his wife took Samantha and I to Hachinohe. There is a big mall in Hachinohe that has an import store and several other great stores so they thought we would want to go. It was nice. We were able to get all the Christmas cards we are sending out this year and some Christmas presents. We even go some things to decorate the house. We don’t have a tree but we do have some garland and silver balls around the living room. There is a small pine tree outside the house and we are going to wait till closer to Christmas and decorate it. Samantha has suggested that we saw off the top bit to make it a small tree with out necessarily killing the tree. We also have a cloth wall hanging of Santa’s sleigh going by Mt. Fuji. I even bought a Santa costume in my size for 420 yen or about $4.20. It included hat, beard, pants, shirt and belt. It’s really a pretty good costume for the price. I can’t wait to show it to my kids around Christmas. I think that the Elementary kids will love it and I will even use it at the Kindergarten that we teach at.
After the mall they took us to an amazing fish market. It was full of all kinds or fish in every state from some being still live to just the heads and tails. We walked around the building trying samples of everything from raw Octopus in Kim chi sauce to fresh crab. I mean this stuff was in the ocean that day it was so fresh. The whole time it’s really loud but I keep thinking that I hear Hank Williams. Now, I know that being in Japan can drive some people crazy. I also know that some crazy people here music and voices. So, I’m thinking that there is no way that this fish market full of Japanese people in Iwate is playing Hank Williams. Therefore I must be starting to go crazy. What's more, I asked Samantha if she heard country western music and she couldn’t. Finally we get to a quite place and you know what they were. They played one Hank Williams song after another the whole time we were there. The fish market had a sort of restaurant in it where you could buy fresh fish and then take them and rent a small grill and cook it right there fresh. We did that and it was great. We had chicken, beef, squid, huge scallops, shrimp, and some other fish. It was the best sea food meal I have ever eaten and it was really cheap too. It was one of the most not in Kansas anymore moments. Here I am eating fresh fish in Japan, trying to explain what little I know about Cockney in Japanese, and the whole time Hank Williams is going in the background.
In unrelated news the other ALTs in town and Samantha and I are putting on a Christmas play at all four middle schools in town and the church Samantha, Stephanie, and I go to. It will be a Christmas Carol rendered into very simple English. For example we may well end up changing the ghost of Christmas past, present, and yet to come to yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I will be playing Scrooge and am busy making all the props for the play. I’m really looking forward to it. I think that it will give me a great opportunity to talk to my kids about the real meaning of Christmas since they celebrate it here as a sort of Valentines Day. Also, I’m going to video the Christmas play and if it turns out well and the other cast members still agree it’s not to embarrassing post it on the blog. So look forward to maybe seeing me play Scrooge in the simplest English imaginable and then all of us singing silent night. Why Silent Night, because the Christmas lesson of the 8th grade English book is about the writing of the carol Silent Night. It gives no translation of Silent Night and they only hear it sung once but it’s the Christmas carol that our students will most have heard of.
Lastly, the weather. My teachers all say how mild the winter is. Its cold freezing cold but there has not been any snow for a week. They say that normally by the first of December there is usually snow on the ground for good.
After the mall they took us to an amazing fish market. It was full of all kinds or fish in every state from some being still live to just the heads and tails. We walked around the building trying samples of everything from raw Octopus in Kim chi sauce to fresh crab. I mean this stuff was in the ocean that day it was so fresh. The whole time it’s really loud but I keep thinking that I hear Hank Williams. Now, I know that being in Japan can drive some people crazy. I also know that some crazy people here music and voices. So, I’m thinking that there is no way that this fish market full of Japanese people in Iwate is playing Hank Williams. Therefore I must be starting to go crazy. What's more, I asked Samantha if she heard country western music and she couldn’t. Finally we get to a quite place and you know what they were. They played one Hank Williams song after another the whole time we were there. The fish market had a sort of restaurant in it where you could buy fresh fish and then take them and rent a small grill and cook it right there fresh. We did that and it was great. We had chicken, beef, squid, huge scallops, shrimp, and some other fish. It was the best sea food meal I have ever eaten and it was really cheap too. It was one of the most not in Kansas anymore moments. Here I am eating fresh fish in Japan, trying to explain what little I know about Cockney in Japanese, and the whole time Hank Williams is going in the background.
In unrelated news the other ALTs in town and Samantha and I are putting on a Christmas play at all four middle schools in town and the church Samantha, Stephanie, and I go to. It will be a Christmas Carol rendered into very simple English. For example we may well end up changing the ghost of Christmas past, present, and yet to come to yesterday, today, and tomorrow. I will be playing Scrooge and am busy making all the props for the play. I’m really looking forward to it. I think that it will give me a great opportunity to talk to my kids about the real meaning of Christmas since they celebrate it here as a sort of Valentines Day. Also, I’m going to video the Christmas play and if it turns out well and the other cast members still agree it’s not to embarrassing post it on the blog. So look forward to maybe seeing me play Scrooge in the simplest English imaginable and then all of us singing silent night. Why Silent Night, because the Christmas lesson of the 8th grade English book is about the writing of the carol Silent Night. It gives no translation of Silent Night and they only hear it sung once but it’s the Christmas carol that our students will most have heard of.
Lastly, the weather. My teachers all say how mild the winter is. Its cold freezing cold but there has not been any snow for a week. They say that normally by the first of December there is usually snow on the ground for good.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)