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| Decked out like a hipster, taking snazzy photos |
So, my
weekend was pretty dope. Hangin’ with an LA homie means that everything I write
today’s gotta be read with a Valley Girl accent. I joke; my accent is as
British as it ever was, or, as the Americans say “limey”. I honestly didn’t
think people said things like that anymore.
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So to recap
my weekend: on Friday, I left school a mere half hour after my official work
hours, which is nothing short of a small miracle. There’s always plenty of work
waiting for me, I learned this the fun way… after marking 300 essays, I
politely asked around the staffroom to see if I could help any Well, it turns
out I certainly could, and had to make a worksheet to prove it. Serves me
right. Not that I mind doing it, but my free time in school goes towards
Japanese language study and the past two weeks have been totally neglected
because of the essay marking.
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| A shrine I'll never find again, off a road I can't remember |
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| Zen |
Anyhow, I
set off to Numazu, the biggest city in the area, on the Eastern part of the
Shizuokan prefecture. It’s about half an hour by train if you manage to get all
the connections right, with one stop in the middle. It takes a little longer by
bus, but the route is terrifically scenic, so it’s worth taking once or twice,
or of course if you want to get somewhere in between. It follows the coastal
line, so it’s always lovely.
I met with
Bong at the station, stomach ready for the challenge. Peruvian food at Mi Peru, a lovely little place just a
ten minute walk from the station. I’ve never eaten Peruvian food before, and to
be honest, I wasn’t sure whether it’d be any good. I’m still at the stage where
I’m perfectly happy to eat Japanese food day in, day out, and from previous
experiences in SEAsia, I find that cheap Western food tends to be pretty bland
and uninteresting. You have to pay through the nose for the good stuff, and I’m
so smitten with Japanese cuisine that I simply just don’t think about other
foods very often. However, the food here was the bomb. Bong ordered a whole bunch of stuff – I just ate whatever was
put in front of me with impunity.
The beef
hearts were delicious. Bong wasn’t going to tell me what they were until after I’d tasted them as he didn’t know
what an offal person (or should that be awful?) I am, but I picked out that
distinctly organ taste straight away. It was marinated in a really delicious
sauce that had penetrated all the way through the meat, and cooked perfectly –
no bouncy rubbery heart for me!
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| So nice, I had it twice |
That wasn’t
all we ate that evening. We also headed over to a Chinese place; Xiong Xiong
(which aptly translates into panda), had peking duck, some gyoza and veg. It
was pretty standard; the Mi Peru was awesome, though. The local flavor of
people was more interesting – there were a few heavily tattooed guys sitting
next to us, who, as it turned out, were Bong’s friends. I was trying to catch
local dialects and casual talk, as well as pick up on the waitress’ Mandarin!
We also
walked through a local festival, meeting We headed over towards the river, and
bumped into some sort of casual festival just in front of the bridge. There
were a few ALTs around that Bong knew, so I met more fellow foreigners and
chatted a little. The pool of English speakers in this area is pretty active,
so everyone knows everyone, and I haven’t met anyone who I don’t like yet,
believe it or not!
The night
ended with a Game of Thrones/Firefly marathon, and good conversation until
about three am. This sounds fun until you hear about the plans we’d made for
Saturday. A morning run. Setting off about 6 am if we could. Well – as you can
imagine, that didn’t happen, oh no. We went at seven, instead. I’m not even
joking. We went for a 10k walk/run in the morning before the sun came out too
strong. Bong has this Zombie run app on his phone, which is ridiculously fun.
It talks you, a runner for your commune, through zombie infested areas, so you
speed up and slow down as it narrates an excellent storyline.
One of my
JTEs (my coworkers – Japanese Teachers of English) had told me about a local
arts and crafts fair in Gotemba, about half an hour from Numazu, so after the
run, we refreshed outselves and headed out that way. We met up with Shihyeng, a
local Singaporean ALT who I’ve been in contact with for a while, but hadn’t yet
had the chance to meet. She’s lovely, though. Unfortunately she had to head off
pretty quickly,
The live
music was amazing – I really liked this guitar-playing duo because they had
wonderful harmonics. I purchased their CD even though I don’t have a CD player;
but I’ll find a way to listen to it somehow. Later on there was a really hippie
group who were playing washboards and a double bass, with a toddler on a tiny
taiko drum. Their music was bizarre, but Bong loved it so we’re going to have
to burn and exchange the music.
I recently
misplaced (I won’t say lost, because I still hope it’s going to turn up again)
a necklace very dear to me; and it was the only piece of neckwear I bought with
me. There were a number of gorgeous necklaces at the arts and crafts fair, but
one suited me in particular – a pendant shaped like a stack of books; wood
wrapped in leather. It doesn’t replace my other necklace, but it suits me well.
After that,
we headed to a nomihoudai and beer festival about half an hour away. Again,
more ALTs (where there is beer, there are Caucasians) and friends made.
Stomachs filled. Oh, boy, was my stomach ever filled. For ¥3,500, which is
about 25 quid, it had better be filling, to be honest. It was much better than
standard buffet fair, though of course you’d get better quality food in
specialized restaurants where you order to your liking.
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| Round One |
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| Round Two |
After
eating, drinking and travelling well, my Sunday was rather chilled. Although I
had originally planned to go to Shimada to visit the festival, both the weather
and my wallet conspired against me. There’s a typhoon somewhere, which means
intermittent but heavy rains. Even the Shinkansen, the bullet train, was
delayed because of landslides; that’s how bad the weather was. So, I stayed
home, took two naps, read a bit, and cleaned the house, mostly by imagining
that it was clean, to be honest.
Ashley, my sempai down in Shuzenji, did something
similar, and contacted me last minute to go for some food in Mishima. I jumped
in, and we headed up towards the city. Unfortunately, the place she had planned
to take me to was closed! I suggested Mi
Peru instead, because she wanted something along that type of cuisine, and
I didn’t mind eating there again. Because, you know, I’m a glutton for
punishment. I had the beef heart. Again. It was just as good. We met up with sempais Bong and Tiffany afterwards for
a drink at a local bar, which also happens to be a hairdresser. The bartender
cuts hair during the day, and pours drinks by night. Only in Japan.
Come
Monday, the national holiday, I slept uneasily, the typhoon winds whistling
around my house. It seemed like we were going to be in for a rough day. Even
so, I didn’t want to spend my national holiday sitting in the house, so I
donned a pair of wellies that my predecessor had left behind (and ft me
perfectly), and headed towards Mishima to find Kawashima coffee, a shop that
had been recommended by previous ALTs in the area. It was worth it. I got there
about half an hour before the shop opened, but it was magic when we got inside.
The gentleman running the shop was lovely, and I got myself some great coffee
swag. He gave us free marshmallows! I’ll be back biweekly, I think, just to
pick up some new coffees and sip on some new brews. My addiction has been
rekindled.
I don’t
like cooking by myself, but I love cooking with friends and family. So, Bong
and I dropped off at my local supa,
picked up some groceries and cooked up a storm. It was amazing.
Observe.
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| A foot long fish, merely 990 yen! |
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| Sashimi |
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| Asparagus, mushrooms, shiritaki noodles |
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| Garlic butter prawns |
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| Kawashima coffee and petit fours |
I rounded
off the evening by trying darts for the first time up in Mishima Tamachi, at an
awesome bar/club called Hustler 9. I met the proprietor, Kosaka-san, and the
food there was amazing too. Have you ever tried kimchee squid? No? You’re
missing out.
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On Bong’s
recommendation, by which I mean, my blatant rifle through and robbery of his
personal library, I’ve just read Yakuza
Moon, by Shoko Tendo. It’s a rather straightforward autobiography of her
rather troubled lifestyle, beginning with her birth into a yakuza household. It
was an interesting read – nothing out of the ordinary, but a good hour to while
away and learn about the consequences of a rebellious childhood, drug addiction
and abusive relationships. Still, she’s obviously out of that vicious cycle
now, happily, and makes a living as a writer. I wonder what it read like in the
original Japanese.
That said,
I’m going to get on with reading 1Q84. Murakami awaits me.
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