Girls Gone Wild...

So we had a house guest for five nights, although I wish it was for longer...my friend Leigh stayed with us since her apartment was broken into and she didn`t want to stay there until the locks were changed. So, we did some rearranging and squeezed her in, literally. It was so much fun, like a slumber party for five days. On Saturday we put my hair in curlers and then we went out to the local hang out (I with a scarf on my head to cover the curlers but it was still cute), and when we took the curlers out the next day it was soo cute...on Sunday night since we couldn't go out drinking as we had almost every other night, we decided to perm my hair so that it would look as cute as the curlers had made it...BIG MISTAKE. If you ever find yourself in a drug store considering a home perm, STOP...look away, do not get sucked in...needless to say I looked like a poodle, and not just any poodle, a poodle from the trailer park and my hair was dead. So I have cut it all off! I like it, its a nice change.

Take Care

SEPTEMBER

Well, so far September is creeping along and it feels like the last two weeks have taken forever, which isn't a bad thing but usually we look back and think "my god, where did the last month, two months, six months go?"

So far in September we climbed Mt Fuji, for the second time and thank god we made it to the top. It was much easier this time and much more rewarding. We started at the fifth station, 12km up from where we started the first time, and since it was the first weekend after the season officially closed there were only two busses going up and after luck smiling in us, we got onto a bus and after a traffic jam we were at the fifth station around 2:30pm. Now most people who made the night hike leave the 5th at 7-9pm so that they don't freeze at the top. Knowing this, we waited at the fifth station but got bored and decided we would start to climb at 4:30 and just go 'really slow'. We went really slow taking lots of breaks and enjoying the view. We saw Mt. Fuji's shadow as the sun was setting cast on the thick clouds that had enveloped the bottom of the mountain and that was amazing. We continued up and marveled at the stars, since it was raining and storming the whole way up last time we didn't get a chance to see the stars, but they were clearer and closer than we've ever seen them before and they were EVERYWHERE. The path was not nearly as crowded as it had been last time and we were ahead of the snake of people we could see below us, we sat down a lot partly to waste time and partly to take it all in, it was amazing. The best part of the trip and the part I will never forget was running into a Japanese guy, about our age, dressed as a giant bowling pin and climbing Mt. Fuji. It put the biggest smile on my face and everytime we would see them I would smile. It was the greatest site, many people can say they've climbed Fuji, but not many can say they saw a walking bowling pin while they did it. We arrive to the top at 2 am, THREE hours before the sun was suppose to rise, and as we expected we would, we FROZE. Not that we weren't prepared, wearing our Canadian tried and true long underwear and layers upon layers, we froze, sitting we froze, standing we froze, doing jumping jacks we froze. Lets just say it is freezing up there, it was around 1 degree above zero but the wind would blow and cut right through every layer we had on, but the sun rose and everything warmed up immediately. The sunrise was truly amazing and can only be witnessed, but we took a lot of pictures. The hike down is as tortorous as the way up and after being awake for over 24 hours we were exhausted. But we made it down and had to wait for three hours for the bus back down. It is amazing that getting off the most famous mountain in Japan and one of the most famous in the world is so difficult, although this time we new what we were doing and what to expect I was still flabbergasted.

The next weekend we went to a friends apartment, hers is WAY bigger than ours, for a wine party and that was fun, we played cherades, and lets just say that some people have enough imagination to make the game fun! Denis was hurting the next day so I ventured out on a girls night with my friend Leigh...it was SOO much fun. We went to this bar that plays live music and they had a rockibiliy concert, it was great.

We also went to Kamakura for our long weekend and saw the archery festival which was pretty amazing, and saw a traditional Japanese lantern festival which was also really cool. The next day we walked around Kamakura and saw many temples, the beach, and the Great Buddha. It was a good day all in all, but I think we are in temple overload. Kamakura was very beautiful and thankfully the weather cooperated for the most part although another typhoon was passing by.

So that's it, that is September so far. I'll post some pictures soon - check out sarahanddenis.toadfire.com for the pics!

Take Care
Sarah and Denis

Just an Update

Hello!

So it is the middle of September and not much new has happened, we are taking it easy as August was a very busy, and expensive, month. We have plans to go to Kamakura to see the Daibutsu (the Great Buddha) and the Hachiman-gu Matsuri, where they display horseback archery as samurai warriors used to. School has started again after summer break for most schools, although preschool and conversation classes went as usual but Denis' schedule is much more hectic now. All of our friends have returned from summer vacation, except one - Dave if you read this we miss you, drop us a line - and life is returning to normal. We went to a friend's house for a wine tasting party on Friday and it was the third time since I have been in Japan that we drank wine and it tasted REALLY good, Saturday Denis was recouperating and I went to a local club where they have live music and it was Rockabilly night, I have never seen so many mohawks and skinny jeans in one room. But it was great and I had so much fun. Sunday we chilled at home since it was killer hot and went for Indian food with friends for dinner.

We are approaching the six month mark, I can't believe it has been six months already it has gone so fast. We, especially me, are missing our family and friends. I miss girls nights, and Sunday brunch and BBQ's and patio dinners, or just going for coffee. I miss strolling along 17th Avenue or Stephen Ave and getting virgin mango martinis...I miss inside jokes and backyard gatherings. I really miss you guys, we really miss everyone - so write us, send us a picture, or just send a thought. But you are all in our thoughts.

Take care and we'll talk to you soon.

AUGUST

The first weekend in August was the big fireworks (hanabi) festival in Ashikaga, the city we live in. Ashikaga is famous for its hanabi festival and we are told 200,000 - 300,000 people come every year (the city's population is about 120,000), people line the river bank, you can sit on the ground for free, people set out their tarps to reserve their spots days in advance, or you can pay to sit on the 'stage', an elevated platform. Our students, Kimiko (my student) and her grand daughter Sakura (Denis' student) invited us to join them on the platform. So we watched the fireworks from the elevated platform with their family and they were so kind, they fed us until we thought we were going to burst especially since I was wearing an obi that was holding my yukata on but squeezing the life out of me. The fireworks were great, two hours of pretty amazing fireworks, good company and good food. (check out Ashikaga festivals for the pictures).

The next weekend we left for Hachijojima. Island paradise, except a typhoon was heading straight for it and we were planning on camping...but the typhoon turned and headed away from us although we got quite a bit of rain and made for some awesome clouds and waves, and the second typhoon that was right behind it fizzled out before it got to us. The campground was great, far better than we expected for a free campground and ten steps from the ocean, with the nicest beach in Hachijojima right there...hachijojima isn't a great beach place most of the swimming spots are in harbour like areas where large cement tetras break the waves enough so you can swim but it was great all the same. The second night we were there baby sea turtles hatched, although no one was there to see them - they snuck out at 2 or 3 am although a few early birds saw the last few slowpokes at 5 am, we were still sleeping, but it was pretty cool none the less. That day we hooked up with an Australian tour guide (and pub owner) and he took us on a tour of the WWII tunnels and a waterfall. It was great, the tunnels were amazing and it was hard to believe they were dug by hand, some of the spaces were huge and supported with cement. The waterfall was quite a hike up but it was very nice and you could swim in the little pool below it which was great to cool us off and clean us up after messing about in dirty tunnels. That night we went on a glowing mushroom tour, and we got to see glowing mushrooms which grow all over Hachijo, but the pictures didn't turn out. It was really dark and I couldn't see what setting we were on - it was one time I wished we had a simple point and click camera...but we got a cool poster. We rented a car for two days and toured all around the island, checking out some more cool waterfalls and onsens (public baths - like hot springs that are segregated and no bathing suits) we also saw the traditional housing and the wall built by exiles to protect themselves from the crashing waves. We also drove up as high as we could to one of the two mountains, Hachijo Fuji, and climbed the 1277 stairs to the top. Although the top was in a cloud and we couldn't see the crater, or anything else for that matter, it was really fun. It was so humid that raindrops were forming on our eyelashes and arm hairs and sometimes Denis got too far ahead and I couldn't see him...it was that foggy. After we gave up the car we just relaxed on our beach, the weather had gotten much better and we were dying of heat now. It was SOO hot and SOOO humid, but we stayed near the ocean breeze and in the ocean and took a lot of cold showers, I wouldn't have taken a hot one even if we could. We got a great tan and then a sunburn and then a sunburn on top of our sunburn even with sunscreen on, we just didn't have anywhere to escape since we were camping and all. But we were all right. Our last day there we found a place where we could make Kihachijo, a traditional fabric made old school with a loom from silk died with plants found only on Hachijo, it was way harder than it looked but very rewarding when I was done. Well it was back to work after, but it was a much needed, very relaxing break.

The next weekend, Aug 26 -27 we went to the Dai Chochin Matsuri in Isshiki City, Aichi prefecture. We left Friday night to drive halfway there, we stopped driving around midnight and couldn't find a hotel that wasn't booked so we decided to try a love hotel. A love hotel, for those of you who don't know, can be rented for a few hours or for the night and is where Japanese people go to make love...since they live with their parents and/or grand parents and/or children in tiny apartments, they go to a love hotel when they need some privacy. The whole idea behind a love hotel is PRIVACY...you do not see or speak to anyone, you press a button or open a door which promptly locks behind you and then you are stuck until you pay and the door unlocks. Unlike regular hotels you pay after, but these hotels are awesome. They have huge beds, nice bathrooms usually with sweet jacuzzi tubs, all sorts of extras, toothbrush, hairbrush, bath stuff, condoms...a big TV with Japanese porn - which is hilarious at best...we saw a girl getting it on with some outdoor patio furniture...anyways it is a great deal, way cheaper than regular hotels. We got up the next morning and drove the rest of the way to Isshiki to see the giant paper lanterns. The lanterns were giant, 10 - 12 meters high and about 5m in diameter. And there were huge candles that they put in them at night to light them up. There were carnival games and carnival food, and traditional dancing and drumming...it was very cool. After the festival we drove towards Nagoya, Japan's fourth largest city, and stayed in another love hotel. The next day we went to Nagoya castle and walked around Nagoya. I have to say I think Nagoya is my favourite big city in Japan, it has everything you want but doesn't feel too big and has a very young vibe to it. There was a festival going on downtown so we walked around there and then went for dinner at a Moroccan restaurant - it was great. We then drove back to the same love hotel we stayed in the first night, neither of us had to work until Monday afternoon and since we now knew the drill we took our time before driving back to Ashikaga.

On August 31 our company had a BBQ for the preschool students and their parents, it was a lot of fun. It was in Ashikaga near the dam in the mountains. We played games and played in a little river that was much stronger than it was before, all the kids fell down and got soaked, and ate a ton of food.

That was August, super busy...lots to see...

JULY

We hiked Fuji, almost to the top, from the very bottom. We decided to take the traditional pilgrimage up Mt. Fuji, the way that it was meant to be done, the real way to experience the majestic beauty of Mt. Fuji and start from the very bottom on the Yoshidaguchi Trail, rather than taking a bus 2/3 up to the top. We started from the Fuji Senjen Jinja, there we bought a walking stick, that was stamped to prove we started from the bottom and took it all the way up with us. It was beautiful and rewarding to get to each of the stations (there are ten stations, 1-8, the real 8th, and 8.5 and then the summit) and we only saw four other people hiking up all the way to the sixth station, 2390 M (we started at 825 M). After the sixth station there were tons of people and it started to get much more windy. After the seventh station it started to rain, we perservered - GANBATTE in Japanese - to the real eighth station and then took a rest in a mountain hut. The mountain huts are where you can sleep before continuing, some people hike up much of the mountain during the day when it is far less crowded and then sleep in the mountain huts and leave with enough time to reach the summit in time to see the sunrise. The 'beds' in a mountain hut are very close together, it is just futon beside futon and you receive the amount of space one pillow and blanket wide, bring your ear plugs...We woke up at 1:30 am to leave for the summit but the storm had gotten much worse and I was feeling a little sick, either from exhaustion or altitude sickness or both. The wind was so bad that the whole line (yes by now there were so many people that it was a line of headlights snaking its way up and down the mountain) would stop and brace itself and the rain was so bad that it felt like it was coming up from below and it hurt. After about an hour, and reaching the 8.5 station, we decided to head back, I was feeling really sick and the weather was just too much. So we went back to our cozy beds in the mountain hut and slept there until 7 am when we left to go back down in the pouring rain. The only good thing about the rain is that everyone was wearing their rain gear and it was so colourful, other than that it was most uncomfortable. The way down was as difficult as the way up, we were exhausted and sore and tired, when we finally made it to the fifth station we took a bus back down to the city of Kawaguchiko and spent the night there. We headed back home the next day, defeated but proud of ourselves. We climber over 2500 M in one day, almost 19km, and were less that .5km from the top.

We spent a weekend at home and Denis was invited to participate in Mikoshi, which is when many people carry a portable shrine through the streets. The thing was huge and weighed one ton! It was lots of fun for me, I just walked beside and took pictures but Denis was really sore after and his shoulders were bleeding because the Japanese people like to make the Mikoshi bounce on their shoulders...it was pretty crazy. But every time that they stopped to take a break there was bunch of old ladies serving us food and drinks. It was a lot of fun!

The last weekend in July was the Fuji Rock Festival. Although the name would lead you to believe that it is near Fuji, it is not. It is actually close to wear we live, less than a two hour drive. The festival was awesome, it was everything an outdoor music festival is suppose to be and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were amazing. We camped on a hill so steep that we kept sliding to the bottom of our tent, it rained and everything was muddy, it was sunny and hot, and raining and wet, for the headliners there were people farther than you could see, and the lines for the porta potties was ridiculous - sooo much fun.

JUNE

So the first weekend of June we went to Yokohama. We had a four day long weekend and we found a super cheap hotel, only 4000 yen per night (for both of us) and it included breakfast. It was a brand new hotel so everything was nice and clean and there was a roof top patio you could hang out on and eat your free pancake breakfast. Yokohama was great. We went to see Landmark Tower, the tallest building in Yokohama and Japan! But it was cloudy the whole time we were there so we didn't pay to go up since there wouldn't be much of a view. The first night there we just walked around and checked things out, watched the river boats and the world's largest ferris wheel, there was a street performer with a pretty cool show, although we couldn't understand what he was saying he was pretty good.

The next day we went to Hakkejima, a huge aquarium, it was really cool there was every kind of sea animal you could imagine there. Also, that night in Yokohama there was the Port Opening ceremony was being held (although the port was already open, this seemed like a yearly celebration) and there was an amazing fireworks show that lasted over two hours and included music and an amazing laser lights show, they were by far the best fireworks we have ever seen.

The next day we walked more than we have ever walked...first we stumbled upon the Yokohama dragon boat festival, which was funny. Lots of people were dressed up, I don't think most people took it very seriously, and one boat dumped and that was pretty exciting. Then we walked up the stairs to Habour View park, nice view, big trees, lots of people. We continued to Foreigners Cemetary and walked around there for awhile. Then we walked to Chinatown - Yokohama has one of the best Chinatowns in the world. It was huge and packed with people. We walked around there for hours, until we were so tired we couldn't walk anymore and then we walked back to our hotel and fell asleep.

On our way home, we had to switch trains in Tokyo and decided to go to Ueno zoo, we had heard that it was a nice zoo and it was cheap, and what the hell, we were used to walking now...but the zoo was sad. All the animals were in small cages or in enclosed rooms and they all looked in such bad condition, it was more depressing than anything. But there were some animals that we had never seen before and that was neat. We also spent some time in the Ueno park, which is like Central Park I guess. A huge park in the center of Tokyo. There is a large homeless population that lives here and there are lots of street performers, we also saw a sumo wrestler, but we were too scared to take his picture.

The next weekend our friends took us to this sweet little swimming place. The water was freezing cold, raining, and we were the only people there, but we swam and jumped off the cliffs and had a barbecue and it was a lot of fun. These are some of our friends...

The last weekend in June we made an impulsive trip to Sadogajima, an island off the coast of Niigata in the Japan Sea. We took a ferry over with our car, and the ferry was very interesting. Unlike ferries at home, they don't have chairs, just large open spaces on the floor where you can lie down or sit and eat we spent most of our time on top outside to watch the seagulls that followed the ferry and took food right from peoples hands for over an hour. The water was sooo blue in that ocean behind the ferry, we'd never seen anything like it. Sado is known for being the island that many intellectuals were exiled to in medieval times, and in 1601 gold was discovered here. The island is very small, we could have driven around the whole thing in less than a day, but we took two. The first day we drove around the north half. We stopped at some huge rocks that are in the ocean that look like two turtles backs, and walked to a shrine for children who have died, it is believed that their spirit stops here on the way to heaven. We went to an onsen and then tried to find the campsite that was on all the maps but was no where to be found, and we were so exhausted that we decided to sleep in our cars, which is common in Japan, so we found a parking lot where lots of cars were parked, some people sleeping, some people setting off fireworks and went to sleep. But around 1 am we were awakened by a police officer knocking on our window. He asked for our identification and asked how long we would be on the island and then proceeded to give us tourist information, it was bizarre and I couldn't sleep the rest of the night. The next day we got up very early as the sun comes up around 4:30 am, and drove to see more jutting rocks that represent something, these rocks were called husband and wife rock. It was realy cool, that day they were having a taiko drumming performance, which Sado is also famous for. So we watched that for a while before we continued to Ogi to ride in a wooden tub boat. Traditionally women used these boats to fish for near the shore, they have a glass square in the bottom so you can see underneath you and they are extremely difficult to steer or even make move. Then we drove up to Chokoku Shrine, built in 807 AD and looked around. The shrine looks very old and there are huge, old pine trees shrouding it. Before we went home, we found a pottery place, Sado is also famous for its pottery - there are special minerals in the clay found in Sado that give it a very strong, metallic quality, and it has medicinal purposes. We found a place that lets you make your own piece, so I got my hands dirty and it was hilarious as we don't speak Japanese and the master there doesn't speak any English, but we got through it. We got the cup back and it is beautiful, I am very proud. And off we were back home.

MAY

The first week of May was our first vacation, Golden Week, although most people only get three days off we had five off. So we went to Yudanaka in Nagano prefecture to see the monkey park, Jigokudani, which was amazing - we are planning to go back in the winter to see the monkeys soaking in the hot spring with snow all around them! We stayed in the best Japanese ryokan there as well, it was run by this cute old couple and we decided to have the meals, which is true Japanese style. The room was okay but the meal was the best meal we had eaten in Japan, it was never ending and we each got our own little hot plates to cook our meat (and in my case, fish) and there was miso soup and rice and tempura and sushi and dessert it was amazing! We also went to Nagano and sought everlasting salvation by walking through this underground tunnel inside a temple which was extremely interesting as the tunnel was long and pitch black and FULL of people, but we touched the key on the wall that brings salvation :) We then planned on going to Matsumoto and spending the night, we booked a hostel at the tourist information booth and then went to see the castle in Matsumoto, which also was really cool, you could go in the castle and climb all the way up to the sixth floor, everything was bilingual so we understood, and there were lots of old weapons and armour, it was a beautiful day so we got to take some postcard pictures. After the castle, we tried to find an outdoor museum, but got completely lost on the way and ending up driving up and down a huge mountain and were far away from Matsumoto when we figured out where we were so we just drove home.

The next day we packed up and took the train into Tokyo while everyone else was trying to escape Tokyo. We visited the Imperial Palace, although the closet you can get is the gate, although you can see the tip and take some good pictures. We also went to the imperial palace gardens, which were beautiful. We went to Mori Tower and took 360 degree pictures of Tokyo and also got to see an art exhibit about Berlin and Tokyo it was really cool. The next day we went to see the baseball game which super cool, it was so much fun and they had great food. We walked around after but Denis got really sick so we went home early. I particpated in a traditional tea ceremony at our ryokan while Denis rested, it was very interesting, everyone there (6 people) got to taste tea made by the tea master and then try to make the tea, which is much harder than it seems, specifically because it is very detailed and very right hand oriented...The next day we were both feeling better and went to Tsukiji fish market, but a little to late, we got to see big heads of fish but not the bodies...but they must have been huge. We went to Ginza and walked around the couture stores, Cartier, Channel, Louis Vouton, etc and then went home.
The rest of May we spent in Ashikaga with our friends, we had a couple of birthdays including mine which was ridiculous we walked home after the sun had come up, I was very drunk and spent the entire next day in bed, but I recovered and took it much easier the next weekend. On Sunday, we made it to the ocean for the first time, we headed east to the Pacific Ocean (it feels strange to write that the Pacific Ocean is east...) and it was very nice except for all the dead birds. Yes, some strange phenomenon happened and there were hundreds of dead birds lining the shore and dying birds being washed up, it was really sad, but we were assured that that is NOT normal, maybe the result of a typhoon...The waves were really crashing on the huge cement tetra-pods, giant cement things to break the waves, and were tried to get some pictures and just as I turned my back to leave a huge wave came and soaked me...it was a lot of fun. That was May.

APRIL

So, we arrive in Japan March 29th, we survive delayed flights, play cards, sleep in the most uncomfortable positions and run through airports, have no movie on our 10 flight over the Pacific ocean and are -1 bag when we arrive at the Tokyo airport, but we survive. We take the bus two hours to this city called Ashikaga and are picked up by two normal looking, english speaking guys who take us to the convenience store and then to the smallest apartment I have ever seen...Erin, if you thought you're bachelor pad was small, our whole apartment is one third the size!

The futon lasted about three weeks until I could not stand sleeping on the floor anymore and we bought an air mattress which started to leak after one week, we now pump it up two to three times a day :) but we are in Japan...

So our first month here we climbed the hill in the middle of Ashikaga to get some pictures of the city we will call home for the next year... it is pretty nice, about 70 kms north of Tokyo, there is a big river that runs through it, small streets lots of temples and shrines and the oldest universtiy in Japan. The Ashikaga Gakko, which was a little dissapointing compared to the temple right beside it. The Gakko is a Confusious school that was founded in 832, its super old but was just redone so nothing looks old and everything was in Japanese so we didn't understand any of it.

But, the beautiful temple right next door, Ban-naji, which was even more beautiful during cherry blossom season...here are some pictures.

There is also another beautiful temple on the hill, that has a million stairs on the way up, it was much more colourful...

The second weekend here we went to Nikko, which was absolutely beautiful. We got to sleep on a real bed for the first time in almost three weeks, the drive was quiet and peaceful just what you would picture Japan to be but a lot more mountainous than I had pictured. We explored the major temple in Nikko, Toshogu, and went for dinner at the cutest little place that is highly recommended by the Lonely Planet Guide book, the best yakiniku (barbequed meat on sticks), although I'm not a huge fan, and really good gyoza (asian dumplings) which I am a fan of, but there was this little old lady that spoke english and told us what we needed to have. The walls were covered with notes, money, business cards of foreigners from all over the world. It was pretty neat. The next day we picked up some travelling friends who were staying at the same hostel as us, we drive up to Chuzenji Lake which has Kegon falls, the pictures all looked great but it was pretty disapointing as the falls are damned so they weren't letting much water out that day it was more of a drizzle than a fall, but we saw some much more impressive water falls so it was cool. And we saw and our first snow monkey there.

So besides seeing the sights we were trying to figure out what we were buying at the grocery store or how to order food at a restaurant, and just we were suppose to survive without an oven and live together in one room...that was our first month...but we made it.

Seriously Ambitious

So, our other blog is different from what we expected and we didn't think that we should have done it in reverse order so our latest adventures would be first up...so I am going to be seriously ambitious and try to write in two blogs, the other is much easier to post pictures to but I like the format of this one much better, we'll see how it goes.

Anyways, stay tuned it will be my new project over the next few days.

Hello

Hello everyone,

This is our blog, since our computer is broken and we can't choose the photos to send you we have set up this blog so we can just post all the photos to it...we're not sure how well it will work but at least you'll be able to see them and hopefully we'll be able to add explanations for them too.

Well, as per the last email, we are doing well. We are planning on hiking Mt Fuji in less than a month now - July 15 -17, since we have a long weekend then. We are planning on starting from the very bottom and hiking all the way to the top in two days as there are mountain huts you can stay in on the way up. It is the 'season' to hike Mt Fuji so we've heard and read that it will be pretty packed...should be interesting. We are also going to the Fuji Rocks Festival July 29 and 30...this is the link to the english website http://www.smash-uk.com/frf06/index.html - the Red Hot Chilli Peppers are going to be there are Franz Ferdinand, but we won't be there for Franz...

We are also very much looking forward to our summer break, August 12 -20, we have booked plane tickets to go to Hachijo-jima, a semi-tropical island south of Tokyo. This is the info page, so you can see some pictures and there is a map I think...http://www.hachijo.info/ There are also WWII tunnels all over the island so those will be fun to explore.

We also bought new bikes, which are vital in Japan...I'll post a picture of them as soon as possible too. Well take care everyone and send us an email tell us what is new in your lives.

Sarah and Denis