July 5- 11, 2010
I 
FINALLY PASSED THE DRIVERS LICENSE EXAM IN JAPAN!!!! It took me two tries, which is actually better than average, but more than enough for me! I am so glad it's over and if I never ever ever have to go back to the "MVD" in Japan I'll be happy. I took the test on July 5th, which was 4th of July in America, maybe that helped! Our friend Toshiya, our Japanese tutor, took me to the driving center and translated documents for me. He was a HUGE help! After the exam he wanted to check out a few things in Aomori city. The testing center is on the outskirts of the city center, which is about an hour and a half from our house. Eric and I go to Aomori about once a month for various things. When Toshiya was driving there he informed me he hadn't been in THREE years, and ironically, the last time he went was for his son's driving test. He will take his daughter in the Fall, so he says it was good practice to take me :) I hope his daughter passes on the first try! Our quick stop into Aomori city turned into what I fondly refer to as 'Tour-de-Toshiya'. He took me to the port where they are building Nebuta floats and found a tour guide to take us into the construction tents, Toshiya translated everything for me. It was so neat to see, especially because I'm participating in a similar kind of Nebuta festival in about a month. Here are some of the pictures: 
The first step is to build the wooden internal frame, then to add the wiring that gives the float it's shape. Next the lights are installed, each float has approximately 1,000 lights! Then they begin to cover the wire with a special paper. 
Each piece is roughly a square and about the size of my hand, they are glued on individually.
Then comes the paint:
Starting with black paint used to outline certain portions, the entire float is hand painted. In addition to paint, paraffin wax is used to make specific areas permeable to light.
After the painting is complete the floats are lifted up onto the flats used during the parade. It takes 160 people to move each float onto the flat. Our tour guide said that it is her favorite part of the process because rather than giving directions like go right or go back they say to the ocean or to the train station! They give directions based on their surroundings so that people don't get mixed up.
The floats are absolutely massive. This is just a foot and an ankle! The building process takes 3 months, then the floats are paraded around the city for 1 week, and then sadly they are destroyed. Because they are so large they can't be saved forever. The faces are often taken off carefully and used as decorations in city buildings or train stations for a few years. I can't imagine doing that much work knowing it was just going to get smashed!
After my private, educational tour of Nebuta we began the drive back home and made several stops along the way so Toshiya could show me his favorite things; ramen shops, bonsai garden shops, parks, etc. It was really nice to get the perspective of a life-long local on the area. I think my favorite stop was the grocery store, where he showed me all the Japanese foods I should eat, and when I told him we already eat about half of them, he said, "eat them more often"... I think he would be surprised if he knew how often I whip up Yakiniku Soba or Gyozos. The most interesting suggestion he gave me was to try the soba sandwich... a hot dog bun filled with noodles. I passed for today, but I'm sure I'll try it someday.
FINALLY PASSED THE DRIVERS LICENSE EXAM IN JAPAN!!!! It took me two tries, which is actually better than average, but more than enough for me! I am so glad it's over and if I never ever ever have to go back to the "MVD" in Japan I'll be happy. I took the test on July 5th, which was 4th of July in America, maybe that helped! Our friend Toshiya, our Japanese tutor, took me to the driving center and translated documents for me. He was a HUGE help! After the exam he wanted to check out a few things in Aomori city. The testing center is on the outskirts of the city center, which is about an hour and a half from our house. Eric and I go to Aomori about once a month for various things. When Toshiya was driving there he informed me he hadn't been in THREE years, and ironically, the last time he went was for his son's driving test. He will take his daughter in the Fall, so he says it was good practice to take me :) I hope his daughter passes on the first try! Our quick stop into Aomori city turned into what I fondly refer to as 'Tour-de-Toshiya'. He took me to the port where they are building Nebuta floats and found a tour guide to take us into the construction tents, Toshiya translated everything for me. It was so neat to see, especially because I'm participating in a similar kind of Nebuta festival in about a month. Here are some of the pictures: 
The first step is to build the wooden internal frame, then to add the wiring that gives the float it's shape. Next the lights are installed, each float has approximately 1,000 lights! Then they begin to cover the wire with a special paper. 
Each piece is roughly a square and about the size of my hand, they are glued on individually.Then comes the paint:
Starting with black paint used to outline certain portions, the entire float is hand painted. In addition to paint, paraffin wax is used to make specific areas permeable to light.After the painting is complete the floats are lifted up onto the flats used during the parade. It takes 160 people to move each float onto the flat. Our tour guide said that it is her favorite part of the process because rather than giving directions like go right or go back they say to the ocean or to the train station! They give directions based on their surroundings so that people don't get mixed up.
The floats are absolutely massive. This is just a foot and an ankle! The building process takes 3 months, then the floats are paraded around the city for 1 week, and then sadly they are destroyed. Because they are so large they can't be saved forever. The faces are often taken off carefully and used as decorations in city buildings or train stations for a few years. I can't imagine doing that much work knowing it was just going to get smashed!After my private, educational tour of Nebuta we began the drive back home and made several stops along the way so Toshiya could show me his favorite things; ramen shops, bonsai garden shops, parks, etc. It was really nice to get the perspective of a life-long local on the area. I think my favorite stop was the grocery store, where he showed me all the Japanese foods I should eat, and when I told him we already eat about half of them, he said, "eat them more often"... I think he would be surprised if he knew how often I whip up Yakiniku Soba or Gyozos. The most interesting suggestion he gave me was to try the soba sandwich... a hot dog bun filled with noodles. I passed for today, but I'm sure I'll try it someday.
Taiko practice gets better and better every week! I am so excited for the festival. It's going to be a really great experience and so much fun! I just hope by the end of the week that I can feel my legs and arms, speak and hear!
We also had Eikaiwa again this week, it was a very small group because its summer time and people are very busy. It's always so nice to see our friends though. I have a feeling that our next Eikaiwa class may be rather large because we will have two very special guests... Glenn and Patti!
At Japanese tutoring this week Toshiya asked us if we eat Natto. For those of you who don't know (which is possibly most of our readers), Natto is Fermented Soy Beans. It's a pretty
common food here, but most foreigners avoid it like the plague, myself included. Toshiya taught me something about Natto that totally changed my mind about trying it. I had been miss-informed and thought that the runny yellow stuff was raw egg, but it's not. It's just mustard mixed with the stringiness of the beans. That changed everything for me. I can handle strange flavors, and sometimes I can manage odd textures if I must, but I draw the line at raw egg. I figured if I was going to try it, trying it with someone who wouldn't judge me if I couldn't eat it and he frequently eats it themselves, was probably my best bet. Of course trying things at home is usually a safe bet, but sometimes having an expert make it for you really helps. So, Toshiya went and got the Natto out of the fridge, stirred it up with some soy sauce and bright yellow mustard and served it over rice. The stringiness was strange, but tolerable. The texture was fine, just like pinto beans. The taste was swallowable, but the smell was one that must be avoided. *Warning* DO NOT inhale when taking in Natto. (I was trying to make up a cleaver new saying to replace "spoonful" with some chopstick phrase, but I wasn't successful.) The best way I can describe Natto is; The texture of pinto beans with the taste of coffee and mustard. That's exactly what it tastes like, if you can't imagine coffee and mustard... just mix it in and give it a shot... okay maybe not, but really, that's what it tastes like. We've had natto once before, but only in a sushi style roll. Seaweed with rice, and diced natto. The flavor of the natto maki (sushi roll style) just doesn't compare. I understand Natto is really good for you, but so is Tofu or vegetables, or boiled chicken... I'll stick to those for now!
At least now for future attempts of my Japanese friends to get me to eat Natto, I can politely decline the offer and say, "Yes, I have tried it."!
This weekend we took a short road-trip and ventured to another prefecture. We drove South along the coast (it was comparable to the road to Hana in terms of splendor, but thankfully lacked all of the frightening turns and bridges the road to Hana has to offer). We debated if we should attempt to camp or not because of the temperamental weather but after thoroughly scoping out the forecast we remained hopeful that the rain would in-fact stop in the afternoon, permitting out long awaited camping trip. After a very rainy and wet drive to Akita we found our camp site and set up the tent in the sunshine. This is the part where Eric realized I forgot to pack the rain cover... oops! So we decided to wait around for a few minutes and see if we could figure out which way the thick gray clouds in the distance were moving. We hoped the sunny clear skies were coming our way and the nastiness was proceeding away from us, but no-such-luck. The heavy, dark, ominous clouds were headed straight for our mesh roof tent. So, we packed up and got a refund. The campsite employee laughed when we told him we didn't have a rain cover. We contemplated getting a hotel for the night but decided that the drive wasn't that bad and we could head back after dinner and save the rest of our Oga Peninsula explorations for a later date. So off we went, in search of the Namahage museum. It was quite the search! If only we had remembered passing a sign pointing to it a few kilometers before the campsite, sigh, oh well! We found some nice other areas too! Like this fancy onsen where people have lockers with their names on them for their onsen baskets, they reminded me of wine lockers at high-end steak restaurants. These statues in the lobby were visible from the road so we thought we had found the museum... but it was just a trick!
Eventually, we found it! Most shrine gates in Japan are blindingly red, but the entrance gate for the Shrine that sits above the Namahage museum was rustic, calming and rather unique. It spans the road and is possibly my favorite of all the shrine gates I've seen thus far. 
And I can reassure you that I've seen my fair share. I think I pass three going to the grocery store! 
The museum itself was quite beautiful as well. The gardens surrounding it somehow seemed different than the other gardens we've embraced. Alongside the museum were traditional style houses of the Namahage people and several sets of steps leading up to a very, very large shrine. We walked about half way up and we crossed a path where we heard monks chanting from inside the building we decided not to go further. I don't like to meander through the monasteries during their times of devotion.
Inside the museum were several different statues and artifacts of the Namahage people. There was also a feature film, which we skipped, and a talking display of an entire tribe, that was moderately frightening. The best part of the museum by far, was the area where staff members dress you appropriately in Namahage traditional dress. Look at me! I'm a warrior!
After the museum we went out for sushi and then hit the road to come back home. We were prepared for our road trip to be a little over 4 hours each way, but fortunately our source was incorrect and it was only about 2.5 hours so the drive wasn't bad at all. Along the way home we crossed a rather important marker, 
and it made me think of my Dad! If only I had a geocache to stash here! He'd find it someday.
A few minutes after this stop we were quite thankful we packed up camp, it began to pour and continued for a few hours... we would have been able to swim in our tent!
Since our road trip was cut short, we had a totally free day on Sunday. I took Eric to the bonsai shop that Toshiya introduced me to and Eric found a friend he had to keep:
He appropriately named it Kodama, which is the name of a Japanese mythological spirit that lived in a tree!
When looking up names of Japanese mythological creatures on line I learned about "Akaname" I hope it's not made up because if there really is a spirit who licks the bathroom clean, they are welcome in my house any day of the week!
At Japanese tutoring this week Toshiya asked us if we eat Natto. For those of you who don't know (which is possibly most of our readers), Natto is Fermented Soy Beans. It's a pretty
common food here, but most foreigners avoid it like the plague, myself included. Toshiya taught me something about Natto that totally changed my mind about trying it. I had been miss-informed and thought that the runny yellow stuff was raw egg, but it's not. It's just mustard mixed with the stringiness of the beans. That changed everything for me. I can handle strange flavors, and sometimes I can manage odd textures if I must, but I draw the line at raw egg. I figured if I was going to try it, trying it with someone who wouldn't judge me if I couldn't eat it and he frequently eats it themselves, was probably my best bet. Of course trying things at home is usually a safe bet, but sometimes having an expert make it for you really helps. So, Toshiya went and got the Natto out of the fridge, stirred it up with some soy sauce and bright yellow mustard and served it over rice. The stringiness was strange, but tolerable. The texture was fine, just like pinto beans. The taste was swallowable, but the smell was one that must be avoided. *Warning* DO NOT inhale when taking in Natto. (I was trying to make up a cleaver new saying to replace "spoonful" with some chopstick phrase, but I wasn't successful.) The best way I can describe Natto is; The texture of pinto beans with the taste of coffee and mustard. That's exactly what it tastes like, if you can't imagine coffee and mustard... just mix it in and give it a shot... okay maybe not, but really, that's what it tastes like. We've had natto once before, but only in a sushi style roll. Seaweed with rice, and diced natto. The flavor of the natto maki (sushi roll style) just doesn't compare. I understand Natto is really good for you, but so is Tofu or vegetables, or boiled chicken... I'll stick to those for now!At least now for future attempts of my Japanese friends to get me to eat Natto, I can politely decline the offer and say, "Yes, I have tried it."!
This weekend we took a short road-trip and ventured to another prefecture. We drove South along the coast (it was comparable to the road to Hana in terms of splendor, but thankfully lacked all of the frightening turns and bridges the road to Hana has to offer). We debated if we should attempt to camp or not because of the temperamental weather but after thoroughly scoping out the forecast we remained hopeful that the rain would in-fact stop in the afternoon, permitting out long awaited camping trip. After a very rainy and wet drive to Akita we found our camp site and set up the tent in the sunshine. This is the part where Eric realized I forgot to pack the rain cover... oops! So we decided to wait around for a few minutes and see if we could figure out which way the thick gray clouds in the distance were moving. We hoped the sunny clear skies were coming our way and the nastiness was proceeding away from us, but no-such-luck. The heavy, dark, ominous clouds were headed straight for our mesh roof tent. So, we packed up and got a refund. The campsite employee laughed when we told him we didn't have a rain cover. We contemplated getting a hotel for the night but decided that the drive wasn't that bad and we could head back after dinner and save the rest of our Oga Peninsula explorations for a later date. So off we went, in search of the Namahage museum. It was quite the search! If only we had remembered passing a sign pointing to it a few kilometers before the campsite, sigh, oh well! We found some nice other areas too! Like this fancy onsen where people have lockers with their names on them for their onsen baskets, they reminded me of wine lockers at high-end steak restaurants. These statues in the lobby were visible from the road so we thought we had found the museum... but it was just a trick!
Eventually, we found it! Most shrine gates in Japan are blindingly red, but the entrance gate for the Shrine that sits above the Namahage museum was rustic, calming and rather unique. It spans the road and is possibly my favorite of all the shrine gates I've seen thus far. 
And I can reassure you that I've seen my fair share. I think I pass three going to the grocery store! 
The museum itself was quite beautiful as well. The gardens surrounding it somehow seemed different than the other gardens we've embraced. Alongside the museum were traditional style houses of the Namahage people and several sets of steps leading up to a very, very large shrine. We walked about half way up and we crossed a path where we heard monks chanting from inside the building we decided not to go further. I don't like to meander through the monasteries during their times of devotion.Inside the museum were several different statues and artifacts of the Namahage people. There was also a feature film, which we skipped, and a talking display of an entire tribe, that was moderately frightening. The best part of the museum by far, was the area where staff members dress you appropriately in Namahage traditional dress. Look at me! I'm a warrior!
After the museum we went out for sushi and then hit the road to come back home. We were prepared for our road trip to be a little over 4 hours each way, but fortunately our source was incorrect and it was only about 2.5 hours so the drive wasn't bad at all. Along the way home we crossed a rather important marker, 
and it made me think of my Dad! If only I had a geocache to stash here! He'd find it someday.A few minutes after this stop we were quite thankful we packed up camp, it began to pour and continued for a few hours... we would have been able to swim in our tent!
Since our road trip was cut short, we had a totally free day on Sunday. I took Eric to the bonsai shop that Toshiya introduced me to and Eric found a friend he had to keep:
He appropriately named it Kodama, which is the name of a Japanese mythological spirit that lived in a tree!When looking up names of Japanese mythological creatures on line I learned about "Akaname" I hope it's not made up because if there really is a spirit who licks the bathroom clean, they are welcome in my house any day of the week!
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