Hachimenzan

(This type of Buddha is called 'ojizousama' or 'jizo'. He takes care of lost babies in a special heaven. Chris and Deb wondered if the 'tear soup' I sent them was a Japanese custom - it's not, but this is. Grieving parents commission a Jizo statue to stand in a temple or a cemetary, where they are offered incense and flowers.)

On Wednesday we went to Hachimenzan, the mountain near my city. I've been there many times before, but it's been a long time since I went to the summit. The drive up is steep and curvy, and while I've been as far as the lake several times recently, this was the first time I went further since I walked around the summit about 10 years ago!

We were rewarded with snow. It was fluttering around up there, and had settled on the trees and the stumps and tables at this picnic spot.











I also went to see the sleeping buddha again after about 10 years! And for the first time, explored the hill behind, which is dotted with buddhas and jizos, including several adorable little treasures.





Close-up of the Buddha's companions grieving at his passing. Of course, in reality he was entering Nirvana, not something to be upset about. Their grief thus displays their own unenlightened state.



The scene on the way to the sleeping Buddha. A bridge leading to an island. The bridge is the stone where the red writing is. I'm reminded of the 'Chinese garden' in King Edward Park, Hawera, only this is so much better!



Jizos in graduating sizes. Look very carefully to the left for a very tiny one.









Wednesday evening we went to the 'San sui kai' with Kanji. That's the monthly beer-drinking party. One hectic hour of eating and drinking as fast as you can!





Some more wonderful statuary from the mountain:


This Jizo is holding the baby. Very much like a catholic Madonna and child. It could also be Kannon, another bodhisattva who is often depicted holding a baby. However, Kannon usually looks female, and I think this guy looks like a bloke, so it's probably Jizo.













Many of the Jizos wear bibs. This statue is actually wearing one too, only it's so old and mouldy that it's stiff as stone.



Then half way down to the peace park, we found this adorable little baby on a rock. I couldn't resist it, I took it home.

Usa Jingu

On Tuesday we went to Usa Jingu. I had forgotten how beautiful it is there in the autumn. We had lunch at a small restaurant there, Chelsey had soba noodles, and I had dango-jiru, a miso-based soup with vegetables, pork and fat noodles. It wasn't very good, I'll have to make it at home again. Then we had ice cream. Chelsey studied animal training, can't you tell:



That evening we had a rather impromptu nabe party, with the piano teacher and our near neighbor Rachel and her new hubby. Chelsey baked a delicious pie using the persimmons which are abundant at the moment. She made it up and it worked really well, with a sweet crust base and a custard made from condensed milk and egg yolks covering the persimmons. Yum! Here are some more photos of the shrine:



The treasure house and tea rooms behind a gorgeous maple in full red autumn bloom.




The lake has been taken over by moss and lilies but it looks wonderful next to the yellow leaves



Either that's a very big tree or a very little baby. Or both.



My favorite building at Usa Jingu. I love the mature trees and the moss growing on the thatch roof.








Curiosity!



Erica getting excited about the ducks...which Chelsey and I wanted to murder as they kept stealing the fish food, and we wanted to see the carp!











A fascinating but shockingly sad outdoor gallery - why leave these treasures to fade away and rot outside?



Scary!!!!...







...that enormous demon mask up there!

Three Days with Chelsey

We had a guest with us for the last three days, and honestly it's been like being on holiday myself! We've toured around and eaten out and generally just suspended ordinary life for a few days, which has been fun!

Chelsey is the cousin of a friend of mine from AFWJ. She's touring Asia, Australia and New Zealand, and started in Japan visiting her cousin. Her cousin then hooked her up with several other foreign wives in Kyushu, including us.

Amy, Lena and Erica all fell in love with her, she's a lovely girl, very laid back and easy to please. And she bakes a mean pie!

I picked her up on Monday morning, and we went straight to lunch with Rachel and Mari and Kiara. I had Amy with me too, as she was off school in the morning with a headache. She felt better after a nap, but there didn't seem to be much point taking her back to school just for lunch, playtime and clean-up! So she came too.

In the afternoon, Rachel and I worked on the party guest list for her Stagette, while Chelsey took herself off for a walking tour of Nakatsu, visiting the castle, museum and some temples.

Then in the evening we all went out for sushi.

Volleyball done gone and over

I wore my Motley Crue t-shirt with the skull and crossbones. This being Japan, there was of course someone else with an even trendier sparklyskull and crossbones, which kind of took the wind out of my pathetic attempt at rebellion.

Why does Japanese elementary school PTA make me feel like I'm back in school?

I can't say I enjoyed it, sorry, if anyone was thinking I might end up back here saying 'Well, all that worry for nothing, I just had a great time!' Yeah right. I had a headache instead. I played the first game, did lineswoman duty for the second game then played the third. Then waited around redundantly for the next three games, thrilled to hear that we had no time to play the final.

There were all sorts - the sporty types, who scare me. The bitch who mocked me in the class meeting. She was the first in line, I was second. Quite naturally I talked to the woman on the other side of me, only noticing later on that I'd left miss 'mock the foreigner's accent' out all by herself. Honest, I didn't intend it! But I'm not sad about it. Skinny ones in full make-up (she turned out to be really good!), fat ones like me trying to melt into the walls. A couple of Dads, who were as useless as the Mums, though slightly more likely to slide all over the floor. The first grade teacher who cringed every time the ball came near her. Just like me!

I was not the worst player there. That honor goes to the other first grade teacher. I was surreptitiously bad, keeping out of way, avoiding the ball, she was ostentatiously bad, wearing serious-looking knee-pads and yelling out 'hai' then missing spectacularly. I hit the ball once over the net and felt quite invicible for about three seconds. I hit it once into the net, but I was only taking my turn losing a shot in a team of people who consistently lost shots so nobody noticed.

I managed not to embarras myself. That honor went to the Mum who managed to hit HERSELF in the face with ball. I'm still not quite sure how she pulled that off. Backward spike toward the net - and into the nose.

The girls were great. Amy especially - with me busy for three games in a row, and Lena escaped off to the kindy playground to play, the bulk of the babysitting fell to her, and she did a wonderful job, secretly feeding her cookies, keeping her away from the ball. She had the help of three older students who crowded around Erica, playing with her and doting on her. I had to hold her a little while doing line duty, then for the first half of the last game, until I went on court.

After that Erica kept me busy, gutting my wallet over and over, while standing on a window seat and providing me excellent cover to whip out my book and read away at least one whole game. The team went on in rotation, 12 people for 8 court places, so everyone had a turn serving, a turn in the centre, a turn by the net. I managed to get myself last or nearly last in the line, so I could wait out a lot of the game. Of two games of two sets each, we won one set, and lost overall.



The Rules. Just to make sure everyone officially has fun within established parameters.



Warm up. Note lack of participation on behalf of mother, who finds photographing cute kids far more important



Isn't she cute, though?



Several older kids from the school thought so! No shortage of babysitters, worst luck as it meant I had to play the whole damn game.



Random Odd Japanese Thing. Yes, they are sweeping the dirt.

NOT looking forward to the weekend

I found myself sitting at work today wishing, oh WISHING I had to work again the next day and depressed about the weekend starting. How many people say that on a Friday afternoon?

One half is from me getting a bit bored at home and enjoying the lesson, which was a single student, good English, highly motivated, interesting language - not just the usual 'what's your favorite food'.

The other half is my mortal dread of the volleyball game tomorrow. How on earth did I get into this? By being at work in April when the first PTA meeting was held, meaning Kanji attended it. Every parent has to volunteer for something. He chose the volleyball last year and enjoyed it, or rather, it wasn't too taxing, so he decided to do it again. I couldn't go last year, as I had a month-old baby. But this year, all of a sudden he had another club event to attend, and now I have to go.

Can't pike out and let the team down. We only have to do ONE thing a year, so it would look a bit bad if we couldn't even do that. I'll go and they'll all enthuse over my height and put me in the front row to spike, or whateveryoucallit, and I'll demur and shake my head and insist I'm crap, and they'll think I'm just being modest...they'll find out soon enough that I'm not, that I am indeed the world's worst team sports player.

This is the girl chosen last every time at school for softball, the girl who barely scraped into the lowest netball team, the girl who scored three baskets in TWO YEARS of social basketball, and even then the whole team contrived to set me up for my shot.

God I just hope we lose quickly and I can slink off again home. I'll take the kids to distract me, and because Erica crying is the best excuse to have to leave the room.

What I've Done

I couldn't resist the lastest blog viral...

1. Started your own blog No-brainer!

2. Slept under the stars 1995 Australian outback, lasted only a few hours as we had inadvertenly parked by a swamp in the dark and got eaten alive by mosquitos. We spent the rest of the night sleeping in the car

3. Played in a band Very briefly twice, once in 3rd form as the singer, once with K and buddies only for one measly song, never actually sang it though.

4. Visited Hawaii

5. Watched a meteor shower Pretty sure I just caught sight of one recently

6. Given more than you can afford to charity I don't consider the amounts I've given, even if large, to be more than I can afford

7. Been to Disneyland (in Tokyo and LA)

8. Climbed a mountain Just Hachimenzan in Sanko village

9. Held a praying mantis UGH! Not quite, but had a rather large one land on my arm last week while I was bringing in the laundry. I screamed like the world was coming to an end, terrifying the baby, but NOT bringing Amy running to help me as was my intention. I had to flick it off myself. Does that count?

10. Sang a solo Only at Karaoke

11. Bungee jumped

12. Visited Paris August 1999, with husband-to-be Kanji

13. Watched a lightning storm at sea, No, but from a plane! Surely that’s worse…

14. Taught yourself an art from scratch (knitting, photography, many others)

15. Adopted a child

16. Had food poisoning Ha! Many times. I’m bold and intrepid when it comes to food

17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown your own vegetables

19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France

20. Slept on an overnight train Queensland Australia 1995, and oh boy did I get in trouble! Also an overnight bus from Tokyo to Kyoto, Japan in 1997

21. Had a pillow fight I had sisters!

22. Hitch hiked Yes, most memorably with F and M when we got a ride in a car that was so old and decrepit that I’m sure we got high on the petrol fumes. Also alone, when my Hillman Imp broke down one day

23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill Who hasn’t?

24. Built a snow fort

25. Held a lamb You’re talking to a Kiwi here. Of COURSE

26. Gone skinny dipping Hawera’s public pool at night I snuck in with someone who was not ever my boyfriend, although he was a boy and very good friend.

27. Run a Marathon

28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice

29. Seen a total eclipse At Stonehenge England

30. Watched a sunrise or sunset Every lazy afternoon on summer holidays at Opunake Beach!

31. Hit a home run

32. Been on a cruise

33. Seen Niagara Falls in person

34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors Do great-granps count? Only up the road in Stratford…

35. Seen an Amish community

36. Taught yourself a new language Does Japanese count? I’m starting on Spanish too

37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied

38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person

39. Gone rock climbing All the way up Ayers Rock and down again

40. Seen Michelangelo’s David

41. Sung karaoke Yep, I’m a hopeless mic hog

42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt

43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant

44. Visited Africa

45. Walked on a beach by moonlight Miyazaki 2005, with K, very romantic!

46. Been transported in an ambulance

47. Had your portrait painted Sketch by a street artist in Paris, with K

48. Gone deep sea fishing

49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person

50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris With K again!

51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling On our annual beach trip. Horrifying to see what we share our swimming beach with!

52. Kissed in the rain probably

53. Played in the mud Played Mud Volleyball in a rice paddy

54. Gone to a drive-in theater

55. Been in a movie

56. Visited the Great Wall of China

57. Started a business

58. Taken a martial arts class Took Aikido classes for a few months before I got pregnant with Amy

59. Visited Russia

60. Served at a soup kitchen

61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies

62. Gone whale watching

63. Got flowers for no reason Several little bunches of wildflowers from my lovely daughters

64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma

65. Gone sky diving

66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp

67. Bounced a check Story of my life at University

68. Flown in a helicopter

69. Saved a favorite childhood toy. My music box doll is upstairs

70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial

71. Eaten Caviar More than once, but the first time was at my sister’s sister-in-law’s wedding in Sydney. Can’t say I’ve acquired that taste yet!

72. Pieced a quilt

73. Stood in Times Square

74. Toured the Everglades

75. Been fired from a job Lost my job in the jewellery store in Sydney, not sure why, think I was just not good enough rather than actually being crap.

76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London

77. Broken a bone Left wrist on the jungle gym at age 5

78. Been on a speeding motorcycle. No, but crashed on one. Figure that one out!

79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person

80. Published a book

81. Visited the Vatican

82. Bought a brand new car

83. Walked in Jerusalem

84. Had your picture in the newspaper Couple of times. Breastfeeding Erica for World Breastfeeding Week in August. With Lena as she was the last baby born at the old Hawera Hospital.

85. Read the entire Bible

86. Visited the White House

87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating

88. Had chickenpox I think so.

89. Saved someone’s life

90. Sat on a jury

91. Met someone famous.

92. Joined a book club Was a member of doubelday for years, but I think they mean reading clubs right?

93. Lost a loved one niece Sarah Rosa, Daddy, BIL Wayne, cousin Matthew, all my grandparents.

94. Had a baby Three!

95. Seen the Alamo in person

96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake

97. Been involved in a law suit

98. Owned a cell phone When was this list written?

99. Been stung by a bee Lots of times, Kiwi kids don’t wear shoes.

100. Taken the Japanese Shinkansen yeah, I love the shink. Which is a BULLET TRAIN folks.

New Splint

Well, we went to Beppu to see the doctor again, and it was a bit better this time. Still no help except 'gambaru' and 'shoganai'. Japanese speakers will appreciate the bucketloads of nuance embodied in those short words! 'Gambaru' means do your best, but it's used a lot more extensively in Japan, with quite a moral undertone. So that's why it can seem like he's saying I'm not trying hard enough.

'Shonganai' is a very short sentence with no pronoun. It means 'can't be helped'. I tried to listen very carefully this time to the words and nuances. I think what he means is that there really is, nothing else that can be done. This is it.

I've spent a lot of time on the computer this week reading as much as I can find about burns, scars, grafts and splints. While I feel he could be doing more for us, for example, finding us a physical therapist, teaching us how to massage or stretch the scar, the splint about all there is to treat it.

But for burn scars, splints, and pressure bandages are what are usually used. Splints especially are used over joints. And the biggest problem with them is patient non-compliance. THAT I can understand! It also reflects what Mum told me about them not using them anymore at the Rest Home - it's easy for a doctor who sees you once a week or month to just say 'Here, wear this 24 hours a day' but Mum's in the front line, treating people on a daily basis, which gives you a much better understanding of how difficult it really is.

So, it's up to me I suppose. Actually even after just two days, the scar is already softening. I've been putting the cream on six or seven times a day, instead of just two, although that'll go back to two or three now that the splint is on all the time. Hopefully with my renewed efforts we will be back to nights only next month.

We will also take it off her at various times during the day. It was off her from after her nap this morning, until after lunch. And it's off now, has been since dinner, and I will put it back on again before we sleep. So she's getting a good chance right now to play and use it.



Here's how the scar looks. This is as far back as her thumb will go, try it yourself and you'll see how limited her range of movement has become in that thumb.



Her skin is reacting to the material in the splint in places, and the straps dig in a bit too, so we are tyring it with tubigrip underneath. HINT HINT NEED MORE TUBIGRIP!



The wicked straps. They were the devil to get on and off the first day, as the leather was new, but they are softening up now. She cannot get it off, but she does chew the thumb. I've been advised to rub vinegar on it - thanks Oonagh!

Cosmos

We went to see the Cosmos flowers with Baachan. I think she really just wanted more Dango-jiru (soup with pork, vegetables and thick noodles, more like dumplings). I know that why I agreed to go! But there wasn't any, only takoyaki (dumplings with a bit of octopus leg in them) and udon noodles, and oden (a kind of stew). So we had rice balls and the kids had udon and I had oden then I had an ice cream and they had candy floss. Oh, and we looked at the lovely flowers. They bloom in autumn and people come from miles around just to take photos with them. The kids just loved prancing through an entire field of flowers, which were in many places, taller than them.







They come in several different shades and slightly different shapes.

Nakatsu Sex Pistols R35 Metabolic

Today was the second live perfomance by Kanji's Sex Pistols cover band, and the first time I saw him playing live onstage! I thought they were great, though they all wanted to go back and try again. But it's not hard to out-skill the famously inept Pistols. Kanji said he made mistakes, but I didn't notice. I did notice Osamu (drums) drop his drumstick! Lead singer Tateiwa, my hairdresser, was funny and bold, and the guitarist, a chef, was much very good. Check it out.



The band - their names are a combination of wrestling moves plus the last name of the real Pistol.


Chop Rotten (vocals)



Brian 'Buster' Matlock (bass) with 'Robo-Vicious'



Guitarist Suplex Jones



Drummer Fall Cook

Halloween

We had our Halloween part a wee bit late, on November 1st! It was a very small party, after half the guests bowed out for various reasons. For some reason I woke up expecting a small showing, so that really didn't bother me. I skipped the pumpkin pie and muffins anyway.



I did an 'orange and black' party food theme - pumpkin cooked the Japanese way, pasta with squid ink pasta sauce, a Japanese specialty! Oranges, mikan and licorice, marmalade and marmite sandwiches, Japanese purin (caramel custard) flavored snacks, devil eggs (not devilled eggs) and the centrepiece, spiders:



Marmalade and Marmite:



Devil Eggs - on the left with Japanese 'Black Honey' on the right with yogurt mixed with black food coloring.



YUCK! On the left black squid pasta, and much yummier pumpkin on the right



YUM! Oranges and licorice, can't go wrong with that combination.



For costumes this year, I put in no effort and bought them. Nothing appropriately scary either, just Tinkerbell's fairy friend Silvermist -



Barbie Mariposa -



And Jasmine, on her English-lace-style flying carpet, with her tiger:

Halloween Movies

No vids of Erica in her costume, but here's one of her drawing. She's been picking up pencils for quite some time, but only just started to apply them to paper! Actually she started out drawing on the table, and seems to prefer that, I have to keep putting the paper back!

Feeling sad because she'll be in the splint 24/7 as of Thursday, so no more drawing! She'll have to switch to her right hand, so I guess she'll end up ambidextrous after all.