Closing Out 2013: Retrospective & December Recap

Enjoying a fine day in Nagano, December 2013

The year 2013 has come and gone very quickly. Looking back, I would say it was a successful year. When writing this I was thinking about what I achieved last year and what to aim for next year. As a result, this post is one of the more reflective I've written and won't appeal to everyone. Invariably, it may sound a bit self-serving.

One of the most obvious successes for me was that I began writing this blog and stuck with it. For too long, I was apathetic about making a journal like this. But I recognized that I was loosing touch with family and friends back home. I also recognized that I was missing an opportunity to self-reflect on my life here and record my experiences in a way that I could appreciate later in my life. Well, finally in the spring of 2013, I pushed myself to get serious about keeping a blog and I’ve been able to average a little over three solid updates per month since I started. I still have to work much harder at keeping in touch with family and friends, but at least anyone interested has an easy way to see what’s going on in my life. And at the same time, I’ve found a way to look back on my own life.

Successes in 2013

In 2013, I vowed to get out and do more, see more, and experience more. I made up my mind that I was going to stop making excuses for avoiding certain aspirations of mine. Here are some of the notable successes I achieved in 2013:

• Despite living in Japan and having a desire to travel to more countries, I hadn’t found the confidence to really do so. But that changed when I made a trip to South Korea, Taiwan, and The Philippines. It was fantastic and now I can’t wait for my next trip.
• I was also eager to see more of the region where I’m currently living, but previously felt like it was too difficult to do without a car. But I said to hell with that and decided I would just use my bicycle instead of relying on others. Subsequently, I took bicycle trips in Aomori Prefecture to the far northwest, northeast, and southeast corners. And now I plan to do more in the new year. 
• I had wanted to climb Mount Fuji for a long time, but never took the initiative to do so. In the summer, I made it happen and enjoyed a hard-earned view of the sunrise from the top of one of the world’s most famous mountains.
• When I heard about a wild, crazy, colorful samba festival in Tokyo, I made a trip out to see it—expensive for a weekend trip but totally worth it.
• I made a real effort to get back into a consistent weight training routine. As a result, I increased my strength and achieved personal bests in such lifts as bench press, squat, and deadlift.
• I finally took the initiative to take the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficient Test). I won’t know the results until February but regardless of the outcome, it’s was a good step in breaking away from the language-learning plateau that I’ve been stuck on.
• For many years, I wanted to get serious about photography, but I never felt like I could justify spending the money on it. Finally in 2013, I made the leap and invested in much better photography equipment than I ever had before. Although it’s not the best gear, it has enabled me to progress my photography skills in ways which simply weren’t possible previously.

Looking Forward in 2014

I may have accomplished some good things last year, but I know that I still have a lot to learn and much to improve upon. I already have a list of new places I want to go and things I want to try. But I'm not going to get into those specifics here. Rather, as corny as it sounds, I also want to seek progress in strengthening my mind, body, and spirit. Tony Robbins, well-known life coach and motivational speaker, always talks about raising your standards, seeking progress, and focusing on your rituals to reach your goals... all as keys to finding true happiness. One of my favorite things Robbins said is, “it’s not what we get that makes us happy, it’s who we become and what we’re able to give.” That's a pretty good motto if you ask me.

Last year, I began making an effort to avoid negativity in my life. I want to continue making progress towards this ideal in which I can wake up every day with a positive outlook and spread optimism to others around me. I hope to spend less time getting distracting by things of little value, and instead use that time to read, learn, and strengthen my mind. One of the real habits I wish to develop this year is opening a real book instead of Facebook when I feel bored. In 2014, I want to step up my physical fitness goals as well. It's not just about lifting weights, but I need to focus on eating healthier again. And athough my current standards of exercise are decent, I think there's definitely room for improvement there too.

Lastly, I think it's time that I start thinking more seriously about my next step in life. Where do I go from here? What's my next passion in life and how can I prepare myself to reach it? There's a pretty famous lecture by Alan Watts in which he poses the simple question, "What would you like to do if money were no object?" He goes on to say that whatever you truly want to do in life (without regard to money), is exactly what you should do because otherwise you're just wasting your life doing something you don't like doing. Life may not be so simple, but it's good advice nonetheless and something for me to think about moving forward.

Happy New Year, 2014!

Recap - Final Weeks of 2013

In the final weeks of December, the weather grew cold and snowy. Schools finished up the term with closing ceremonies and work parties. I enjoyed Christmas parties with friends. And I left Aomori for a compact but fun, little vacation within Japan. I'll figured I'd let the pictures do the talking here.

Koda Junior High School

Closing Ceremony Before Winter Break

Making Christmas Cookies with Nozomi (pictured below, left)

Christmas Party with Friends

Turkey, Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Salad, Bread, Fruit, and more!

Thanksgiving in Japan

Many delicious dishes

Christmas may be right around the corner, but I still wanted to finish a quick writeup about Thanksgiving in Japan. Although it’s not celebrated in the country, the local community of English teachers and other friends put together a nice Thanksgiving dinner to celebrate for ourselves. We had a big turnout this year and it was a great time!

We agreed to do a pot-luck style dinner and all brought something to share. I wish I could say that I spent hours cooking some amazing dish, but limited time forced me to simply bring ice cream to share. But others were nice enough to cook a variety of good stuff. We even had a turkey, which is really difficult to get around here. The party took place at the house of one of our older Japanese friends in the JET community; she often likes to be involved with the international community and is willing to help us out with things like this.

At the party, we put all of the food on a long table and grabbed whatever we liked. We chowed down on the delicious meal and chatted with our friends. At some point everyone started playing some casual party games too, like Catch Phrase or Taboo (word games). Maybe next year I'll be able to actually contribute something more worthwhile than vanilla ice cream!

The feast begins!

Playing some games after eating

Annual ALT Skills Conference

Guest Speaker from Akita University

Another quick update from November I thought I’d touch on is about the Annual Aomori ALT Skills Conference (ALT meaning, “Assistant Language Teacher”). The two-day conference is held every year for JET participants (Japan Exchange and Teaching Program) working in Aomori Prefecture and includes guest speakers, workshops, and training sessions with the goal of improving our teaching skills. In some ways, I think it’s also a good refresher for those of us who have been here multiple years, even if much of the information seems repetitive at times.

Break time between sessions

One of the challenges I have in my teaching context is promoting more classroom English. It's difficult to try to advise Japanese teachers when living in a society that places high value on hierarchy (I'm not sure this is the right word, but...); I often feel like teachers here don't think I have much to offer since they've worked in the system longer, are older, have more experience, etc. I was hoping to get some perspective on this issue at the conference, which was maybe half-successful. I may have heard some viewpoints but when it comes to taking action and making real changes, I still feel like it's an improbable feat. Yet for me personally, the conference reminds me that there are some success stories out there, I just have to keep working towards my goals.

The Annual Oirase Salmon Festival

In the third weekend of November, I went to the 8th Annual Oirase Salmon Festival (おいらせ鮭まつり). I heard all about it so I just had to check it out for myself. Oirase is a small town in southeastern Aomori Prefecture, near Misawa and Shichinohe. The family-friendly, salmon-themed event features the usual things like food vendors (especially salmon cuisine), live music, and festival games for children. These are great but the best activity is definitely the salmon catch.

Salmon Festival Grounds

The salmon catch is a fun activity which challenges people to catch feisty salmon with their bare hands, and then keep their catch and bring it home. It’s set up at a shallow pool filled with large adult salmon, and takes place a few times throughout the day. Anyone can join, regardless of age, by purchasing tickets for one of the time slots (In 2013, tickets costs 1000 yen each, or about $10). Buying one ticket allows you to catch and keep one salmon, two tickets allows for two salmon, and so on. A single individual may buy multiple tickets for him/herself if desired. Besides the tickets, boots and gloves rentals are available for a cheap price and necessary unless you bring your own.

They have no idea what's coming

In regards to the actual salmon catch, it lasts just five minutes. Needless to say, the goal is to successfully catch a salmon for yourself before time expires, but there are also extra rewards for catching the largest fish, smallest fish, and catching with the most style. Once the five minutes is up, participants must exit the pool whether they were able to get a fish or not. However, unsuccessful participants can later exchange their ticket for a salmon, just the same. Lastly, fish cleaning is available (again for a small fee) and recommended unless you really want to do it yourself.

Running out into the pool at the starting bell

On the day I went, I bought a single ticket and walked over to the pool area. I was lead over to one side of the pool and waited for the catch to begin with the other participants. On the opposite side, spectators watched in anticipation. The starting bell rang and I hopped into the pool. Most of the poor salmon went into panic mood and frantically swam around looking for and escape. I’ll admit that I felt a little bad about the whole thing as it doesn’t seem very humane, but at least they aren’t getting a sharp hook through the mouth. On the flip side, it’s pretty entraining to see many of the participants screaming and prancing around as they try to catch a salmon.

Man catching three salmon

For the first few minutes I was looking for the biggest fish possible, but then decided just to grab whatever I saw because I didn’t want to be left empty-handed. Personally, I didn’t find this to be difficult, despite what others had said. The pool is shallow enough and the salmon are plentiful, so it was just a matter of quickly grabbing one as they swam by. I ended up with a relatively-small salmon, but I was thrilled with the catch and it was such an interesting experience when all was said and done.

Here's my catch!

Apparently, Oirase has an Annual Baby Salmon Release every March. During this event, people release baby salmon into the river so they can breed and return as adults in autumn, when they can then be caught for the Salmon Festival. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to find much about the origins of the festival. Nevertheless, it was a unique experience!

Mochi-Making

After my last update in Autumn, my free time has diminished so it’s been harder to update my blog recently. Work at school has picked up; I’ve been working on new projects for junior high school students and preparing more materials for elementary school teachers. As winter has also strengthened in the past few weeks, it takes me longer to get around town on my bike. Nonetheless, I’m keeping active and still taking part in a some interesting events, such as mochi-making.

freshly-made mochi

Mochi (餅, rice cake) is a popular Japanese food traditionally made by pounding warm, cooked rice with a large wooden mallet until it becomes a soft, chewy substance. A short-grain glutinous rice is used to give it the sticky, highly-elastic quality that characterizes it. There are many ways to eat it, such as with sweets, soups, and more. It’s also used as decoration during the New Year’s holiday season. Nowadays, mochi-making machines exist, but the culture is not lost. The traditional "mochi-pounding ceremony," Mochitsuki (餅つき), is still fairly common, especially around this time of the year.



I’ve have the opportunity to participate twice at elementary schools, and I've really enjoyed each experience. The yearly event draws the local community together, and many of the students' parents or grandparents come to help out. During my first time last year, I meet some very friendly grandfathers. This year, I had chances to meet more of the students’ fathers. This kind of friendliness has been a really nice aspect of the events.

Hammering rice into mochi

Of course, the actual process of making mochi by hand can be pretty fun too and involves three basic steps. First, the rice is soaked and cooked overnight. Second, the rice is pounded with wooden mallets in a heavy wooded mortar. And lastly, the gooey mass is formed into small round balls or other shapes. Based on my personal experience, it seems like the second step of mochi-pounding is traditionally reserved for men, whereas women take on the third step of forming the mochi into shapes. Certainly anyone is free to participate in any step they wish (and all kids at the school--boys and girls--get to swing the mallet a few times), but I’ve never seen a single Japanese women pounding mochi nor a Japanese man rolling it into balls. I don’t think it’s sexist, I think it’s just based on preference. Men generally like to puff out their chest, flex their arms, and smack mochi with the heavy mallet, while women generally like to chat and gossip around a table with their friends.

Students' mothers rolling mochi balls

At the elementary school events I attended, there were a few different kinds of mochi to choose from when all was said and done. Last year we were a but spoiled; for example, we could make a ice cream and mochi dish with a variety of toppings like red bean paste, sprinkles, even chocolate chips. It was awesome! However, this year was slightly less extravagant and was limited to kinako mochi (roasted and slightly sweet with soy flour coating) and ozoni (a kind of mochi and vegetable soup). But both are traditional New Year’s specialties and very delicious.

Left: ozoni, Right: kinako mochi