Saying Goodbye to Japan…

After three years I am finally leaving Japan. As the plane tickets are finalized (and payed for), and as we pack up our belongings; ruthlessly throwing out the things which we don’t need, the realization that we are actually leaving hits me. I have had a great time living in Japan and I have learned so much. This tangent I have spun off on from my original goal of working in theater has taught me a lot, and now is the time to go back to the States and use these skills I have acquired and find my place.

Inspired by my friend’s post, this is a reflection on my time in Japan.

Things I accomplished:

• Learned some Japanese (and learned how to learn a language).
• Learned that I love teaching high school students and became a good teacher.
• Met my husband and got married (and struggled through a yearlong wait for his spouse visa to be issued. At last!)
• Learned about a different culture and how to exist in it (when in Rome…)
• Lived on my own for the first time in a rural area and learned how to be fully self-suffient.
• Made a few Japanese friends.
• Became a better cook.
• Helped other Assistant Language Teachers with their problems and hopefully helped them become better teachers.

Things I regret:

• Not learning more Japanese.
• Not making more Japanese friends.
• Not going to Okinawa and Hokkaido.
• Not seeing Takarazuka (there are still two months left…)
• Not starting a blog about my experiences sooner.

Things I will miss about Japan:

• The food (soba, udon, ramen, the special taste of canned coffee, hire katsu ヒレカツ, izakaya 居酒屋 food, all you can drink specials, salad udon, agedashi tofu 揚げ出し豆腐, festival yakisoba 焼きそば, and much more.)
• Friends I’ve made.
• Karaoke boxes!
• Purikura (print club!)
• Nama gurepufurutsu sawa 生グレープフルーツサワー (shochu (焼酎) - Japanese vodka – soda, and a raw grapefruit that you juice yourself and add to the glass).
• Vending machines everywhere; from drinks, to toys, to oden　（おでん）…
• Summer festivals (祭) and wearing a yukata (浴衣) to them.
• Cherry blossom viewing parties (hanami 花見) where we sit outside all day and eat and drink.
• Great customer service and no tipping.
• Good trains and public transportation.
• Being an expat at time when when the reputation of the USA is not very good.
• Automatic flushing toilets and automatic faucets that actually work properly.
• How safe Tokyo feels compared with big cities in the States.
• Hot springs (onsen 温泉)!
• Watching gakkou e ikkou (学校へ行こう！) on Tuesday nights.

Thing I will be glad to leave behind:

• Having to bike everywhere.
• Being stared at just for looking foreign.
• Expensive fruits and vegetables.
• Not being able to find many cooking ingredients for recipes I want to try.
• Unequal gender roles.
• Simple things being difficult to do because my Japanese isn’t good enough, or there is excessive beauracracy.
• The translation/repeat method of English teaching.
• The idea that the group is always more important than the individual.
• Lack of central heating, kerosene heaters, small refrigerators, microwave/oven combination, Japanese stoves.
• Big, stripy mosquitos.

Things I miss about home:

• My family and friends.
• Cheap fruit and vegetables.
• Having a car.
• That being an individual is valued and success is not measured by seniority but by ability.
• Making theater.
• Not living in a tiny apartment.
• Being able to dress uniquely without worrying that I am not dressed appropriately for teacher (a highly regarded job in Japan).
• ATMs are open 24 hours and you can use a credit card or cash card almost anywhere.
• Cultural diversity.

Things I am worried about dealing with when I get home:

• Culture shock.
• Finding a job in the arts.
• Getting health insurance.
• Moving back to my hometown where I haven’t lived for 10 years.
• Evaluating my experience in Japan and creating a new 5 year plan.

Great Japan Beer Festival

My first reaction when I heard about the Great Japan Beer Festival during Golden Week was, “Awesome, I like beer! Let’s go!” My second impression, after viewing the poorly designed and amateurish website was, “On second thought, this website is really lame. Maybe we shouldn’t go…” In the end, however, we spontaneously went to Tokyo during Golden Week and just as spontaneously decided to go to the beer festival.

When we arrived, we were at first awestruck by the enormous bouncers standing outside, towering above the crowd; something usually not seen in Japan. We got in a short line and purchased our tickets and entered. I immediately regretted not bringing in food, though there was a selection of “American Dogs”, hot dogs, yakisoba, and various snacks. We immediately bumped into some Gunma JETs who had just arrived as well.

The doors had opened at 2:30, but we arrived just in time for the kanpai at 3:00. A camera panned through the crowd, projecting our raised glasses onto a back screen. After the kanpai we started to make our rounds, with our friend marking down our opinions of each beer as we went along. We started at the A booths and throughout the festival, which lasted until 7:00, eventually made our way through all the booths (up to F).

The right side of the room was filled with a mix of German beers and Japanese beers (and Japanese breweries making German-style beers). Not a big fan of the darker beers, I tried a variety of pilsners, ambers, and light hefewizens and anything that was pale in color. One of my favorite was a yuzu-flavored beer that was quite refreshing. When we finally reached the back of the room, we found that there were buckets for dumping your extra beer and water for drinking or rinsing your glasses.

Of my several ventures the restroom, the first wait in line was about 30 minutes, but after that, most of the women disappeared, and the ratio of Japanese to non-Japanese people grew steadily more even. By the time we reached the left side of the room we were feeling suitably “relaxed”. I even bought an “American Dog” (hotdog on a stick), though it wasn’t my first choice; all the other food was sold out.

As we worked our way down the left side of the room our beer drinking became more selective, each of us choosing the type of beer we like the most. On this side I found my favorite beer, which was a light and slightly fruity Blanche made by a Japanese brewery. Actually, the left side of the room was entirely made of Japanese beers, half of which were sold out by 5 pm. Though the beers were not particularly international, there were some very good beers and I certainly felt we got our 5,000 yen worth of beer, plus souvenir glasses to take home.

All in all, if you can taste at least half of the 120 beers offered it is a worthwhile event, and going to Tokyo during Golden Week was much more relaxing than jostling with Japanese people in some picturesque location.

Event details:

The Great Japan Beer Festival
Over 120 microbrews featured.
Advanced tickets 4300/day, 4700 at the door.
http://www.beertaster.org/index-e.html

Event Location:

The Garden Hall at Ebisu Garden Place
1-13-2, Mita, Meguro-ku,Tokyo

How to Make Tofu Dango （豆腐団子のつくり方）

For the final lesson of the school year at one of my visit schools we made Tofu Dango together. It’s simple and delicious, and a very healthy dessert, so I thought I would share the recipe.

Ingredients: (材料)

Tofu (豆腐) 300 g

Shiratamako （白玉粉）250 g

This is a rice flour made from glutinous rice. Glutinous rice is dried to create this floor. It is commonly used in Japanese desserts and dumblings (dango).

Kinako （きな粉）to taste

Kinako is soybean flour. To make the flour, soybeans are toasted and then ground into powder. It’s taste is similar to peanut butter.

Katakuriko （片栗粉）1/2 tablespoon

This is starch of the dogtooth violet. You can also use cornstarch.

Aonori （青のり）to taste

This is a type of seaweed that is crumbled into powder. Aonori is very good for you and contains minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and vitamins. It is often used in its dried form in Japanese soups and tempura. It is also used to add flavor to Japanese food by sprinkling the powder onto hot food.

Goma （ごま）to taste

Sesame seeds. Black sesame seeds work well also.

Shoyu (しょうゆ) 1 tablespoon

Soy sauce.

Satou （砂糖）

Sugar. Brown sugar works well also.

Mizu (水)

Water.

Utensils and Supplies:

Bowl, ladle or mesh scoop, large pot, stove/burner, plates, forks and spoons.

 

Instructions: (豆腐団子のつくり方)

1. Put the rice flour in a bowl.

2. Put tofu in the bowl.

3. Mash and need it in the bowl until mixed well.

4. When it becomes the thickness of an earlobe (pinch a bit to check) tear it apart and role it into small balls with no more than an inch or 3 centimeters diameter.

5. While rolling the balls, fill large pot most of the way with hot water and heat the water to a boil.

6. Put the balls into the boiling water.

7. When they float to the surface they are done. Remove them from water and place on a plate. They will become very sticky.

8. In one plate, spread about 1 tablespoon of kinako （きな粉）and 1 teaspoon of sugar (砂糖). On other plates, put goma (ごま) (sesame) or black sesame.

To make a common dango sauce, mix 1 tablespoon shoyu (しょうゆ) (soy sauce), 2 tablespoons sugar or brown sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon katakuriko （片栗粉） or corn starch and heat until it becomes thick.

9. Roll the dango in the coating of choice, or coat with brown sauce. When finished, aonori (青のり) can be sprinkled on the savory or plain dango.