Mountains, Moonshine, Monks Mackin' it, and the Fated Hydra Battle

Hello Faithful Readers,

As a quick note, since this is also my journal for when I get back home to the US, you’ll run across boring, dry reminders that are just for me to remember what exactly I did. So, if you see a few dry sentences that read like facts in a textbook, it’s just for future me.

You already read about my somewhat frustrating week last week, so now I’ll amuse you with the craziness of this weekend. Actually, Friday night was not exciting at all; I drove my friend Nick to the bus station for his overnight bus to Tokyo. Since my apartment is right　next to main train station in Hachinohe (it’s actually the last stop on the Shinkansen, the superfast bullet train to Tokyo), many times people will ask to park in my apartment’s parking lot and go to the station. Unfortunately, the Shinkansen is fairly expensive, so people take the night bus to Tokyo instead.

Saturday I hung out with Helen (now proud owner of a couch) and Seth (now proud owner of a DS). I (now proud owner of a red Frisbee) don’t have any pictures…a common theme in this blog (but I’m adding them slowly but surely, check out last week’s post for photos of the shrine). After the shopping spree, we went to Tanesashi beach. It was a bit cold, so instead of jumping in the water or playing Frisbee, we climbed rocks! It was wicked fun, I’ll definitely be back again. I had to do it barefoot, but it was worth it for such a great view of the ocean and the sense of adventure.

Alright, since I can’t convey my fun with words, I’ll just move onto the main course of this post. Zazen Meditation. I was invited by some Shichinohe JETs (Sheech for short) to go to Zazen Meditation. How could I turn that down? So, I arrived in Shich at 7 and off to the Buddhist temple we went. The monk spoke great English, and he proceeded to enlighten us about meditation.

Aside from the strict set of rules (sit on the cushion like so, bow so many times, only turn clockwise…), one thing stood out in our Gaijin minds. “When you feel me place the wooden board on your shoulder, bow and lean forward.”

“Why?”

“Because when I hit you, I do not want to …Eigo de nan desu ka?...attack…your bone.”

We must’ve looked puzzled, because he invited one of his weekly temple-goers to demonstrate. Ok, stick on the shoulder, he bends forward, and *SMACK!* The priest smacked the him on the back with his wooden board. Well, at least he was careful not to hit the bone.

Can I share with you one thing? It’s bloody hard to meditate when you’re anticipating a monk attack! The monk broke the meditation down to two 20 minute meditations. No smacking on the first 20 minutes. During our 5 minute break, he warned us that sometime during the next 20 minutes, he would hit us.

Why would he hit us, you may wonder? “To remind you that your body is in this place.” Yeah, that’s all the explanation we get.

So, he did come around hitting all of us the next round of meditation. It actually didn’t hurt that much.

After the meditation was over, they brought out all of these small tables and platters of food and drink. It was great! We all sat around just talking, drinking up beer and moonshine, eating gyoza, jelly soda (fanta+jello), fried ocra, and so on. You noticed the moonshine? Yes, the monk’s friend makes moonshine. Delicious moonshine. The woman I was sitting next to, the monk’s sister, actually lived in England for 2 years and spoke some pretty good English. Random fact of the night: the woman who ran the monk’s sister’s accommodation knew Sean Connery. Even better, Sean Connery asked her to marry him and she turned him down! Random eh?

After the surprise dinner, they wanted to take us out to karaoke. Since Shich is such a small town, the only karaoke around was in a snack bar. How to describe a snack bar… Ok, well, there are these women who work at the snack bar, right? And these women dress provocatively, ok? Now, at the snack bar, you pay a little extra for drinks for the woman, as well as a sitting charge for just being in the establishment, not to mention all of the drinks and food you buy for yourself. Now, these women don’t actually do anything. The most you will do with them is talk and maybe dance. So, you are pretty much paying for conversation and a big tease.

Apparently Japanese men don’t get frustrated by this. Especially the monk, if you catch my drift. Out of all of the Japanese men there, he was mackin’ it with two or three of the workers. He would sing a few (I’m assuming) heart-wrencing, tragic songs, and then the women would swoon. He danced with a few, had his arm around a few, and just when he was about to…I don’t know, maybe talk with them more?...he fell asleep. Yep, he passed out right on the couch. His friends/followers picked up where he left off, and as we were leaving for the night, one of them was drunkenly conducting his woman’s singing.

Brandon is about to give that sleeping monk payback for that wooden board...

So, I partied with a Buddhist monk. I don’t know how I feel about that. I always thought they would abstain from certain earthly…I don’t know, carnal pleasures? What I mean to say is, seeing the monk in plain clothes, drinking up with his arm around a few women, certainly made me view him with less marvel than I did at the beginning of the night.

Anyways, I stayed the night in Shich (no driving after the beeru), and the next morning drove back to Hach to quickly change into my hiking clothes and head for a mountain in Nanbu town (Mt. Nakuidate?)

Two of the Shich JETs from last night, along with Erin from Hach (self-dubbed, “Crazy Miss Hach”) jumped in the car, and we began our drive. Little did our group know the epic proportions of our adventure that day.

Driving to the mountain, everything seemed normal. Lush trees, rice fields, Japanese people. Everything was going according to plan. But then...

“What’s that over there?!” A DRAGON! No, it was no simple dragon, the beast had 3 great heads.

“ ‘Tis not a dragon, ‘tis a fearsome hydra!”

We had no choice. Although the road stretched out before us towards the mountain, there was no way we could battle fate. Our destiny called for us to climb to the top of the dragon and slay it.

We arrived. There was a restaurant near the beast, filled with people I only assume were hiding from the hydra in fear of their lives. We walked towards it, boldly purging any liquid fear we had at the conveniently located restrooms near said hydra.

As we drew nearer, there was a man, the first obstacle in our way. He said something in Japanese that I could only assume was “Hark, fellow travelers, save the poor children from the beast’s fearsome rule.” Erin had us all pay 400 yen, probably a “save the village relief fund.” Anyways, he let us through, and our adventure began.

We met the dragon head on, all of us running, battle-hungry, through the dragon’s mouth to rescue the children from inside its cavernous bowels.

It turns out, the dragon’s insides were constructed of metal rings with rope, allowing us to easily climb through it and to the top of the dragon. After rescuing some children, we made it to the top and took some great pictures. I cannot even describe the battle that took place, the hydra tried to play tricks on us, the floors were slanted, passageways were closed off, but we prevailed! We also scored some cool pictures.

Ok, with the hydra slain, we continued on our path to hike. Not soon after, we ran into a joint Buddhist and Shinto temple. It was huge and gorgeous. I wish we had architecture like this back home. I’ve always loved Eastern architecture, and this was perfect. The courtyard had beautiful statues and the main body of the temple was full of huge, elaborate artifacts. This temple also has the largest 3-story pagoda in all of Japan. Unfortunately, you can’t go inside. We all made some small donations and prayers to the gods, and moved on. Just check the pictures, which don’t nearly do justice to the ambience.

Ok, dragon-slain, temple-prayed at, all that was left was the mountain. It took us a good 45 minutes to climb to the top. It was a great hike. There isn’t much to explain, it was a hike, but we got a beautiful view from the top.

Afterwards, we drove to Gonohe to meet up with Seth, Helen, and Melissa for a little horsemeat dinner. How is horsemeat? It’s actually pretty good. It has a different flavor from meats you’ve had before. It’s like beef with extra flavor. It was actually really delicious. So we sat around and talked and ate. It was a great end to the day.

……but does the dragon still stir?

Your favorite, Random Japan:

The first time I was able to drive my car, I turned on the radio to get a taste of Japanese music:

Who's the black private dick
That's a sex machine to all the chicks?
(Shaft!)
You're damn right.

Japanese music is the theme from Shaft? Isaac Hayes, have you been lying to us this whole time? Or is it just that, at 7 in the morning on the way to work, the average Japanese listener really digs listening to the Isaac Hayes Marathon? Well, no complaints here.

Last week I needed a haircut. I drew a careful diagram as to how I wanted my hair to look. I think it was pretty good. After 30 minutes of careful cutting, I actually had a great trim. The barber was really exact, often making the most miniscule cuts to get it just right. And I thought I was done.

Not so. His wife comes from out of nowhere and somehow signals that she’s going to shampoo my hair. So far so good, right? I’m getting a nice wash, she dries my hair, puts in obscene amounts of tonic (which shall henceforth be called, head-burninating solution) and began to apply lather.

Good, I’ll get a shave for the back of my hair, sort of like when I got my hair cut at Puglisi in DC. Again, totally normal. Then, she lathers my cheeks. Hey, a full shave, even better, I’ve never had this before! Then, she lathers my neck. Still totally normal. Then, she lathers my…ears? Ok, shave the outside of my ears, I never liked my peach-fuzz there anyways! Then she lathers my…forehead? What are you pulling on me you crazy old woman?! I know I don’t have hair on my forehead. I don’t even have peach-fuzz. What are you doing? Up, no time to think, she put warm towels on my face. Very comfortable warm towels. I could just fall asleep.

Oh, it’s over? That’s too bad, I was just getting into the groove. Are you sure there isn’t still some hair on my ears somewhere? Ah well, it was good while it lasted. It was a good hour-long trip to the barbershop. I can’t wait to go again.

Shigga Shigga

Hello Everyone. Well, I had a great weekend to write about, but first I'm ticked off right now, so you have to read about this first. I was teaching at an elementary school today, and one of the 5th grade students comes from the US (mom is Japanese, dad is American, they divorced) and has been here a year. He's causing trouble at home and crying every night, and they want me to talk to him and find out what is going on. Ok, I can do that, I was a "Big Brother" in High School, I majored in Psychology, I read about therapies for fun, and therapy is sort of what I want to do with my life.

So, they take me to the principal's office and everything goes to shit. First of all, another JET comes and wants to watch me talk to the kid. Then, the teacher wants to sit in and watch as well, like all it will take for the child to open up is the presence of another American, and that PEOPLE STARING AT HIM won't be a problem at all. The teacher got the hint to leave, and I start talking to the kid. I'm just talking to him in the beginning, trying to find out what he likes, trying to build a rapport, joking about how Japanese can't pronounce words, etc. Well, I get a few giggles out of him and I'm sort of making headway, regardless of the limited time I have to figure out all of this child's problems.

Then, the principal comes in. He walks in, says a few words, and sits at his desk doing work.

Oh, you've noticed the kid is nervous and sweating profusely? Well, Mr. Principal, I'm glad you thought that the best thing to do would be to rub the kid's shoulders and tell him not to worry. Yeah, that was really helpful. Hey, while you're at it, why don't you tell him not to be sad and solve all of our problems in one fell swoop?

Now the kid, still sweating profusely and not even giving occasional eye contact anymore, is totally shut. One-word answers and everything. I decided to give him my email and phone in case he wanted to hang out sometime, but I'll probably initiate the first step next week if he's willing to see me. Just as I'm wrapping up, the teacher from the beginning comes in because she decided it would be best if she was around to watch too. Great job with the emotional-understanding deficit, Japan. Do you wonder why your suicide rate is ridiculously high?

So, I wasn't able to magically help out the child like they wanted, and they asked what I suggested and how they could help and how the mother could help. I told them that there isn't much they can do, with the recent divorce and subsequent move to another country (where he has to pick up the language, which he can speak but not read and write), there's a lot going on with him that they can't help on their own. I suggested a child psychologist. Really, if they are going to treat him the way I watched (talking about him but not to him etc.), he's never going to get better.

Afterwards, the JET apologized for being in the same room, and we talked about what was happening. He enlightened me that the whole "emotionally helping other people" thing is not something Japanese are good at, preferring to do things such as a quick massage and daijoube ("don't worry"). Part of it is the cultural thing of keeping everything inside instead of any outbursts...hence the high number of suicides. It's not that their hearts aren't in the right place, it's just that they have no idea on how to help or empathize.

Ok, now that that is off of the chest, I can fill you in on everything I've been up to lately.

Friday night I met up with some friends who were on their way to Hokkaido (the northernmost prefecture) for dinner and to drop them off at the ferry. We went for yakiniku- a restaurant where you cook small slices of meet on a grill at your table. We had some great conversation about how Palin is the scariest woman alive (unless you were friends with her in High School), how McCain totally changed all of his stances post-campaign (check out this link for a great Daily Show segment on the life of McCain), and pretty much everything politics.

After dropping them off at the ferry, I went downtown to meet up with some Hach JETs (Big Mike, Paul, Mark, Tina, Erin, and Wade). I met up with them at a restaurant and we went to another bar with darts, pool, and nintendos. I couldn't drink since I was driving, but it seemed like downtown Hach would be a lot of fun to explore next time, when I'm not driving. I did pretty well at pool, and Wade and I won both games.

I got home around 2:30 and I'm getting into bed. Around 3 am my phone buzzes:

“Hello?”
“Hey Greg, it’s Paul.”
“Oh, hey…What’s up?”
“Dude, someone’s hand just reached in my window and I’m freakin’ out.”
“What?”
“I was sleeping and I woke up and this hand appeared above my head, it was coming through my window. I screamed “OY” and whoever it was ran away. I think I was dreaming it, but I couldn’t have, it seemed too real.”
“Whoa, that’s really creepy.”
“Yeah man, I can’t sleep anymore, I can’t believe that happened. What if someone is still out there? I thought it was a woman, I saw a pony tail, but I don’t know…it could have been Yakuza or something. Sorry to wake you up and everything, I’m just freaked out”
“Hey, don’t worry about it.”
And so the conversation continued. He called again at 5am and we talked some more. He also called about 3 or 4 other JETs too, so some of us didn’t get good sleep. The next day Paul and his supervisor checked his window, someone broke the screen and everything. They fixed the window and got a lock for the glass part, but I think Paul is still a bit shaken. Luckily I’m on the fourth floor, so no one will be reaching their hand through my window, all that can happen is the voyeur with the binoculars across the way.

The next day (Saturday), I went to an all-you-can-eat Yakiniku place with many of the Hach JETs. I couldn’t read the signs for what each meat was, so I just piled them all on my plate and began the grillin’. After a few refills and some ice cream, I was pleasantly stuffed. Afterwards, I went to Lapia Mall (home of the infamous Fantasy Dome, surely you’ve heard of it) to watch a Brazilian festival. Paul’s Capoeira class was doing a performance, and I got to meet them backstage. Capoeira is a Brazilian martial art that is dance-like, and instead of sparring in the traditional sense, they sort of dance together, attacking and dodging to make a dance-like sparring match. The people really cool, and I’m going to a class tonight to check it out. It seemed like a very chill group.

Afterwards, I got some Mos Burger (ridiculously small burgers, but they have different flavors like the ebi-burger, tonkatsu-burger, and so forth), and headed home to clean the apartment. Exciting, eh? Well, I taped up the bottom of the entranceway to my shower, where I suspected those pill-bugs were coming from. Oh, I haven’t mentioned this, but lately I had a small pill-bug posse in my apartment. After taping up their suspected entrances, they haven’t made a return, so I think I took care of them. After cleaning, I saw my friend Saki online and we talked for awhile, then I headed to bed.

Sunday I tried surfing for the first time! It was wicked fun. Grahame in Oirase brought two surfboards, so Brandon and I went to Oirase and began learning the venerable art of surfing. We only lasted about an hour in the freezing water, but Brandon was almost standing up, and I was able to catch some waves lying on my stomach. Sadly, we won’t be able to go surfing again until Spring, but I can’t wait until we do. The beach itself was surprisingly ugly. There were tons of concrete jacks to protect against tsunamis (which the Northern Part of Japan doesn’t really get…it’s just a way for the government to stimulate economic growth by paying for construction).

After surfing I saw Wanted, which is great for some mindless action, then headed home for some sleep.

The next day, Monday, was a day off (Respect for Old People’s Day), and I went to a festival at Yawata shrine near the outskirts of Hachinohe city. It was really cool, there was an archery competition for the middle and high schools, and I’ve got some great pictures from that. The shrine itself was gorgeous. I also paid 100 Yen to get a card with my luck and advice on it. My luck is “Good,” so I think I’m pretty set for awhile.

A young woman shooting in the competition. Japanese traditional archery is called Kyudo.

A place to pray at the shrine.

We really just walked around the shrine that day, eating festival food, doing festival things, and in general having a good time. Afterwards, we went to the coolest pizza place ever in the uptown development of Hachinohe New City. Brick oven pizza is already awesome, and the place itself had great ambience and music. At night, it appears that there will be live music, so I really want to go and check out the bar.

A monk walking through the shrine.

After driving home, I rested for a bit, cooked some dinner while watching The Office online, and went to sleep. It was a really good weekend.

This week in Random Japan:
I have a coworker who I think is hilarious. About once a week, when I’m going on a trip to school or something, everyone will say some incomprehensible Japanese as a goodbye. Not him. He stands up and does the “get some” signal, his arms pumping in and out from his hips and his bottom half gyrating back and forth. Does he know what he’s doing? I don’t know. Is it hilarious? Of course! It’s a middle-aged Japanese salaryman signaling me to get some action, saying something that sounds like “shigga shigga.” I am pretty much crying every time.

Scavenging and the JET Welcome Party

Hello everyone, I got back from a great weekend a few days ago. Friday night was Wheldon's (a JET) birthday party, which we had at the Golden Palki, a Halal restaurant that the JETs frequent. They think it's amazing... I don't care to tell them that it's not all that good, especially compared to Mehran back in DC. After that there was a brief trip to karaoke, where I got to see the huge difference between JETs and young adults who joined the American military (there's a base in Misawa, a city nearby). The JETs were singing songs by Oasis, the Killers, Red Hot Chili Peppers etc. The Base-people were alternating with Limp Bizkit, Linkin Park, and more Limp Bizkit. Come on guys, I grew out of that stage when I graduated High School.



The next day I did a scavenger hunt with some JETs around the area. This was a precursor to the welcoming party, and AJET put together a huge list of places to see and things to do all over Aomori prefecture.

Here is a shot of our team at Christ's Grave, in Shingo. Yes, people in this area believe that Jesus walked over to Japan (he can walk on water, so no story flaws yet) married a Japanese woman, had some children, and died of old age. Oh, that guy on the cross? His twin brother, who took one for the team. Don't believe me? Google it.

On the way back from Christ's grave, we passed by construction workers. But these weren't any normal construction workers, they had towels on their head! Score +40 points for this picture. What did we tell the construction worker in our (well, Erin's) Japanese? Something like "This is... event for towel-man. Picture. May we please take?"

Ok, Christ's Grave? Check. Towel-wearing Japanese person? Check. Dress up in yukkata (festival wear, which I ended up wearing all day and night). Check. Find the weirdest fashion? Here we are, these are two cosplayers . The thing that blew my mind was the fact that they were likely "in character." The girl on the left was being led around by the taller, powder-grey haired girl on the right. For example, the shorter girl stood docilely while we were taking the picture until the the girl with grey hair physically rotated her body in the correct direction and put her in the correct place. Click on the picture to get a much better view of what they looked like.
After a few more challenges completed, we finished up at the Statue of Liberty. Do you see it there in the background? Yeah, Japan took Ellis Island right from under the US's nose. What now?

Unfortunately, our team got last place in the scavenger hunt. But, we had so much on the way that it didn't really matter.

The welcome party was pretty good. It was in a ski resort that rents out their cabins during the off season for parties like ours. There were a good 80+ people there. Some people were drinking, others were bbqing, dancing, it was a lot of fun. There wasn't too much that happened there. Actually, around 6 in the morning, some guy came into our cabin and was like "who took my pillow! Whoever it is needs to give it back now!" A lot of people slept right through it, I sort of woke up, looked at him and gave him the peace signal, and lay back down. He mumbled something and left.

This week I've been teaching English a lot more. Would you like to see a picture of my students?

Yes, they are ridiculously adorable. And yes, they can be yours for the small price of getting paid to teach English. Also, note the baller in the top left kamehameha'ing.

I think that's about it for the weekend. This coming weekend I plan on hiking and camping Mount Hashikami (sp?). It's a national holiday on Monday, so we get the day off. Woo!

This week in Random Japan:

A long time ago, when I didn't have a car, ok, well, two weeks ago, I took a bus to visit friends in Gonohe. The bus cost around 800 Yen, I payed with a 1,000 Yen note, got my change, and was on my way. Well, I'm walking down the street and suddenly the bus driver runs out and gets my attention. I don't understand a single thing he's saying, but he hands me my 1,000 Yen note back and runs away! Ladies and Gentlement, Japan paid me 200 Yen to take the bus.

Enkais and Onsens

Good afternoon everyone. I had an awesome weekend. First was the enkai, which I briefly told you about. I went with two of my coworkers to the restaurant. One of them gave me an energy drink (I think?) to get me ready for the night, the other one was asking me all about my favorite drinks and so on...I was preparing for a great night.

We arrived at the restaurant. Now, I was told not to touch any food or drink until everyone arrives and does a Kampai! They told me wrong. My two coworkers and I got huge mugs of Asahi and began "kampai practice." People started filing in, and then there were speeches. They had a great welcoming speech, the vice-head of the office had a great speech, and then some other coworkers spoke. It was all in Japanese, so they could have said anything, but I prefer to think they were complimenting my hard work, good looks, and mastery of the English Language. Then, the kampai! A few gulps of Asahi, and it's time to dig into my food. I took some pictures on my phone, and I'll find a way to upload them soon enough.

On the menu was raw fish, cold meat that wasn't raw, sea urchin (delicious), prawns, and beer. They also broke out the shoryu, which, as far as I can tell, is some kind of Japanese rice liquor that doesn't taste like much. Luckily, half of my office are lightweights, so there were some great drunken people that I got to talk to. The highlight of the night was one coworker telling me he loved me, then someone telling him what it means in English, and him saying "I love my wife and children, but you're ok." It was really cool to see my coworkers loosened up, and I can't wait for the next enkai. Sadly, we didn't have any nikai's or sankai's (2nd party, 3rd party!) that night, but my supervisor assured me next time.

To get home, my supervisor got a daiko. This is the best idea that I've never heard of before. One man drives your car, because you've had too much of the silly juice to walk straight, and another follows behind to pick up your chauffeur when he drops you and your car off at your home. It's a great idea, and I don't think it's wildly expensive either.

Saturday we were supposed to go camping at the beach. Unfortunately, it had been raining for 8 days straight, and we instead decided to bbq at Misawa (which has an Air Force Base in the town, meaning American food). It was wicked fun. We had some beer, bbq'd with chopsticks, and watched most of ironman (until it got to the part where it skips until the end, thank god I didn't pay to see that in theatres).

The next day, they decided to go to the onsen. Why is that bolded? Here's why: the onsen is a natural spring jaquzzi, you get in to relax and clean up. It's just good old naked foreigner you and all of your favorite naked strangers in the equivalent of a hot tub. Before getting in, you have to scrub down with soap and water and really get clean. Once inside, there were a few different temperature pools. We went to the outside one and watched the waterfall, which was really cool. After getting used to the heat, I was able to relax for awhile and close my eyes. I'm sure that once I go to more of them and get used to it, I'll look back at this and laugh at myself and all of that prude American culture, but until then I'll pay the extra 200 yen for the modesty towel.

A few days ago I taught my first elementary school. These kids are the best. They don't have the reservations that middle school students do. They are pure id. It is a great feeling to have 80 of them swarm you at once and pretty much give you the biggest group hug you'll ever have. It's also the only time a student will want you to play dodgeball with them just so they can hold your hand. They have so much energy, and they're not afraid to try and talk to you, get your attention, or play silly games with you.

After some English lessons, it was time for recess. I played dodgeball and tag with them. A few of them jumped on me. It was an awesome 40 minutes. I'm teaching a different elementary school tomorrow, and I can't wait.

This past week, I've also learned how easy and hard it can be to meet random Japanese people. Sometimes you just have to put yourself out there, and that can be tough. For example, there was a guy walking a golden retriever. I was about to just walk by, but I missed my dogs at home so I asked if I could pet the dog. It turns out, this guys speaks pretty good English and we had a conversation about fish in Alaska and Canada. He's 73 but looks maybe 45. Later in that same day, I was watching a ping pong match, and not only did the people playing offer to let me join in if I had a paddle, but someone came up and asked me if I wanted to sign up for the league (...or something, I couldn't understand). It was really cool, and it makes you realize how easy and hard it can be to meet people in a foreign country.

I've also been driving for the past week and a half. Woohoo. I've got a 1995 Mitsubishi Lancer and some kickass tunes to take me to my base schools in Shingo (40 minutes drive). It's only been sunny once on my drive, but it was gorgeous. I drive through mountains and rice fields, it's as picturesque as you can imagine.

This coming weekend I'm doing a scavenger hunt and the AJET (association of JETs) party. It should be a blast.

This week in Random Japan...
There are still many things I don't understand. Our morning meetings and bowing, the quasi-life-determing saisho gu, janken po (rock, paper, scissors...it has determined everything from which student speaks first in class to who is the lunch-room slave for that day), and the obsession with miso soup. Today, I will talk about some cones I saw. These cones were surrounding some small stones on the side of a cliff that leads up to my school. Thing is, three of them were maybe 1 foot apart from each other, I'm assuming protecting cars from the dangerous pebbles in between their triangle. It couldn't have been to warn about falling stones, otherwise they would have blocked the road (considering it's 6 feet wide at the most), and it doesn't really serve as a warning. It's like the road crew has quarantined a few trouble-making pebbles until further notice. Not all that funny, but very confusing.

Also, there's this man, age-indeterminate, who I always pass by on the way to my schools without fail. He's always walking on the side of the road, with his huge sunglasses and six o'clock shadow. And he has this half grin on his face. He reminds of Jack Nicholson, about to either kick ass or flip out. I try not to look into his sunglasses, lest I lose my soul.

Not a strong random Japan this week, but still things you should be aware of, just in case.