The dramatic title may have been influenced by my recent obsession with the riveting Game of Thrones novel. Also, it was influenced by the fact that the apocalypse may actually be fast-approaching Aomori. Yesterday morning I woke up to a friendly shake of the earth and the not-so-friendly sound of rain falling on my roof like a million needles sent to destroy my house. Naturally, everyone was out and about like it was any regular day. I even drove by the usual herd of government workers casually walking to work through the raging typhoon. That day, while wondering what gods would inflict such horrid natural disasters upon my poor prefecture, I realized that I had experienced 4 earthquakes since arriving two and a half months ago. Or was it 5? Either way, I am pretty sure I have experienced more earthquakes in my two and a half months of living here than I have my whole life.
Here is a link to an interesting website that tracks earthquakes in Aomori. I almost had a heart attack when I saw there have been 69 earthquakes in Aomori over the past year. One of the school secretaries expressed her fear that a big earthquake is soon to come, since a spell of smaller earthquakes often times precedes a large-scale earthquake. As you can see, though, all of the earthquakes fall along that nasty fault line in the Pacific Ocean to the east while my town sits on Mutsu Bay, guarded from tsunamis by the mountain chain running up the Shimokita peninsula. The only thing I have to worry about is a massive nuclear reprocessing plant located a few miles east of my town.
The Rokkasho Nuclear Reprocessing Plant, which has been a topic of controversy in Japan over the past decade, sits upon a mountain vulnerable to the aforementioned global fault line in the Pacific Ocean. According to scientists, this fault line can produce up to a magnitude 8 earthquake, but no matter to the reprocessing plant. Their spokesperson reassures the public that the plant can withstand an earthquake of up to a 6.9 magnitude. I guess that means we will just pray that the gods choose not to bless my pleasant little town with a 6.9+ earthquake and a subsequent nuclear meltdown. Otherwise I will be gone and you will no longer be able to read these lovely blog posts (You must be wondering what gods I repeatedly refer to, but I must blame George R.R. Martin here for infecting my mind with his language).
As of late I have been planning Halloween activities for my students and going about my regular teaching schedule. There are a flurry of school festivals over the next month and a half, the first of which I attended last week at the middle school. The brass band played their instrumental renditions of Frozen's "Let It Go" and the Spirited Away musical score; some students performed satirical skits and cultural dances; and, my personal favorite, the school put on a 20 minute abbreviated, Japanese version of Romeo and Juliet.
There was also a 30 minute segment during which the students set up large white banners on the stage and painted Japanese calligraphy on them as the audience of 100 or so people sat and watched. The principal then picked up what looked like a mop, dipped it in a bucket of green paint, and wrote a giant kanji, 扉 (tobira), in the center.The presentation was embellished with Japanese pop music blaring over the loudspeakers and a cute little dance once the painting was complete.
I asked the teachers what was going on because I had never seen people just sit and watch as students write on a banner. It almost seemed like they were creating the banner then and there because they did not have time to complete it beforehand. A Japanese Teacher of English (JTE) explained that calligraphy is a deep Japanese tradition that had been modernized for school festivals by adding JPop and dancing to the presentation. The calligraphy itself was some sort of story that expresses a moral related the centerpiece kanji, 扉. 扉 literally means "door" but, according to the JTE, implies forever, future, or challenge. I will post pictures later and hopefully the writing will be legible so that my Mom can translate the calligraphy on the white banners.
This past weekend I traveled to Tokyo to visit my grandmother and mom. My mom was the first person I have seen from home since arriving to Japan. I realized that this is the first time that I have moved to a new place knowing absolutely no one, and I think it has been good for me. I have gained a new sense of independence and appreciate being alone more than I used to.
I also got dinner and drinks with two of my cousins in Kichijoji, an outskirt of Tokyo. This was nice since the last time I spent time with them and without our parents around was probably when they babysat me in elementary school 15 or so years ago. It was also fun to see Tokyo through youthful eyes, as I am usually tied up with family activities involving many adults and elderly people when I visit.
Now I am back in Aomori, enjoying the fall weather. Today my students invited me to play soccer with them at recess and it was the first time any of my girl students wanted to play. One of the girls even scored- I was so proud! It seems like a trivial thing to be happy about, but there is quite an emphasis on gender roles, especially in Aomori it seems. For example, one teacher was sewing a costume for the school festival and I told her how impressed I was. She responded by saying ”女子だから," i.e. "It's because I am a woman." Anyhow, it was a good day today since my third graders were more than eager to speak English with me, I played soccer with them, the girls joined in for the first time, and the weather is beautiful.
It is odd that the weather is so mild today. Just yesterday I could not see a mile around with all the rain and wind forcing me to look down at my feet. The passing of the typhoon lifted a veil of clouds from the Shimokita peninsula and revealed open blue skies and auburn mountains that are finally catching fire with signs of fall. I suppose I should choose my words more wisely, though, as I fret what other natural disasters might reign upon Aomori in the near future. I just hope that whatever is thrown our way does not materialize into a truly apocalyptic disaster for Aomori...
Here is a link to an interesting website that tracks earthquakes in Aomori. I almost had a heart attack when I saw there have been 69 earthquakes in Aomori over the past year. One of the school secretaries expressed her fear that a big earthquake is soon to come, since a spell of smaller earthquakes often times precedes a large-scale earthquake. As you can see, though, all of the earthquakes fall along that nasty fault line in the Pacific Ocean to the east while my town sits on Mutsu Bay, guarded from tsunamis by the mountain chain running up the Shimokita peninsula. The only thing I have to worry about is a massive nuclear reprocessing plant located a few miles east of my town.
The Rokkasho Nuclear Reprocessing Plant, which has been a topic of controversy in Japan over the past decade, sits upon a mountain vulnerable to the aforementioned global fault line in the Pacific Ocean. According to scientists, this fault line can produce up to a magnitude 8 earthquake, but no matter to the reprocessing plant. Their spokesperson reassures the public that the plant can withstand an earthquake of up to a 6.9 magnitude. I guess that means we will just pray that the gods choose not to bless my pleasant little town with a 6.9+ earthquake and a subsequent nuclear meltdown. Otherwise I will be gone and you will no longer be able to read these lovely blog posts (You must be wondering what gods I repeatedly refer to, but I must blame George R.R. Martin here for infecting my mind with his language).
As of late I have been planning Halloween activities for my students and going about my regular teaching schedule. There are a flurry of school festivals over the next month and a half, the first of which I attended last week at the middle school. The brass band played their instrumental renditions of Frozen's "Let It Go" and the Spirited Away musical score; some students performed satirical skits and cultural dances; and, my personal favorite, the school put on a 20 minute abbreviated, Japanese version of Romeo and Juliet.
There was also a 30 minute segment during which the students set up large white banners on the stage and painted Japanese calligraphy on them as the audience of 100 or so people sat and watched. The principal then picked up what looked like a mop, dipped it in a bucket of green paint, and wrote a giant kanji, 扉 (tobira), in the center.The presentation was embellished with Japanese pop music blaring over the loudspeakers and a cute little dance once the painting was complete.
I asked the teachers what was going on because I had never seen people just sit and watch as students write on a banner. It almost seemed like they were creating the banner then and there because they did not have time to complete it beforehand. A Japanese Teacher of English (JTE) explained that calligraphy is a deep Japanese tradition that had been modernized for school festivals by adding JPop and dancing to the presentation. The calligraphy itself was some sort of story that expresses a moral related the centerpiece kanji, 扉. 扉 literally means "door" but, according to the JTE, implies forever, future, or challenge. I will post pictures later and hopefully the writing will be legible so that my Mom can translate the calligraphy on the white banners.
This past weekend I traveled to Tokyo to visit my grandmother and mom. My mom was the first person I have seen from home since arriving to Japan. I realized that this is the first time that I have moved to a new place knowing absolutely no one, and I think it has been good for me. I have gained a new sense of independence and appreciate being alone more than I used to.
I also got dinner and drinks with two of my cousins in Kichijoji, an outskirt of Tokyo. This was nice since the last time I spent time with them and without our parents around was probably when they babysat me in elementary school 15 or so years ago. It was also fun to see Tokyo through youthful eyes, as I am usually tied up with family activities involving many adults and elderly people when I visit.
Now I am back in Aomori, enjoying the fall weather. Today my students invited me to play soccer with them at recess and it was the first time any of my girl students wanted to play. One of the girls even scored- I was so proud! It seems like a trivial thing to be happy about, but there is quite an emphasis on gender roles, especially in Aomori it seems. For example, one teacher was sewing a costume for the school festival and I told her how impressed I was. She responded by saying ”女子だから," i.e. "It's because I am a woman." Anyhow, it was a good day today since my third graders were more than eager to speak English with me, I played soccer with them, the girls joined in for the first time, and the weather is beautiful.
It is odd that the weather is so mild today. Just yesterday I could not see a mile around with all the rain and wind forcing me to look down at my feet. The passing of the typhoon lifted a veil of clouds from the Shimokita peninsula and revealed open blue skies and auburn mountains that are finally catching fire with signs of fall. I suppose I should choose my words more wisely, though, as I fret what other natural disasters might reign upon Aomori in the near future. I just hope that whatever is thrown our way does not materialize into a truly apocalyptic disaster for Aomori...