JAPANEXILE

20^th December. The next Christmas party! One I’d been looking forward to, the Toya Nursery party. Its no secret Toya nursery is my favourite, and even better Dad was taking over the Duties of Santa for the morning. I had worried about the early start, but Mum and Dad were up bright and early anyway, doing the dishes, and hunting for coffee as you do. It was pretty standard Christmas party fare, singing, present giving, dancing, games. Good fun. The present giving took a long time, at first each kid came up, either with great speed or rather sheepishly, depending on whether they were interested in or scared out of their wits by the strange hairy Santa wearing a Rolex. But to speed things up Santa went round in person to the remaining kids, some of whom cottoned on that it might not be the real Santa, so to check wanted to remove the beard. Cheeky. A good last nursery day of the year, a good time for mum and dad to come methinks. Craig and I only had our Junior Class in the afternoon which dad came to whilst mum was getting her exercise fix. We’ve had some trouble with this class lately, with very few kids actually turning up, and when they do its in dribs and drabs. Quite annoying honestly. Makes it difficult to get anything done, as anything you do in the first half is then completely new to whoever turns up late. Hopefully the Board will heed our complaint and do something to fix it. This lesson was no exception really, three in total turned up, making any games difficult to do. Not a great lesson for dad to see, wish he had come on a day when we can do a real lesson. The day was yet to finish whoever, we got mum and dad checked into the Phoenix so they could have a rest before being taken with a large escort to the watch the festival in Toya-onsen. I would have liked to have seen this, but being one of the performers I was confined to backstage until showtime. I wrote about how the performance went in my Yosakoi update so I won’t bother again. Afterwards it was back to the Guten for the after-party, and finally bed, a long day. With another full one ahead.

The amount of times I said that, well the first part anyway, over the Christmas period I don’t know. A lot for sure. The “Very Xmas” part is one of the many examples of pretty terrible uses of English you see around. “Very Xmas” was plastered all over the shop windows in Sapporo. I wonder who exactly told them to put that up instead of the correct “Merry Christmas”. Being the local foreigners and of course the people most acquainted with Christmas traditions it was mine and Craig’s job to be jolly old Santa here there and everywhere. The first time of many to come was for a group of kids only half of which I knew over in Abuta. That was definitely the best organised party we went to. The whole room had been decked out into Santa’s grotto, complete with several helper Mrs.Claus(s) (How do you make that into plural?) We did our usual bit, dressed up handing out presents, fortunately no-one asked the perhaps obvious question of why there were two Santas. For our trouble we were given a nice cake made by none other than Kenzo’s mum, the infamous person who wrote “Kuratagu” instead of Craig on his birthday cake.

The rest of the Christmas period was dominated by the presence of Mr and Mrs Clayson (my parents) so the rest of this update is going to have to be an amalgamation of the separate post I had planned for their visit. Mum & Dad arrived late on the 19^th, and brought straight back to our humble abode for a feast of Yakisoba ably cooked by Kuratagu. Our house really did seem very small with two extra people are their luggage. We managed for one night well enough anyway, with me and Dad kipping in the living room, leaving my palatial bed for mum. It was definitely a good idea for them to stay at a Hotel I think.

The full details of what I do in Sapporo will remain under wraps due to a nondisclosure agreement between myself, my employer, and the local authorities. The official line is that we went shopping, went to dinner, and arcade, bowling, and bed. Cori of course met us only by chance and in stayed at a separate address several hours away. Which in all truth is actually what happened to a large extent. We did go shopping, looking fruitlessly for a snowboard. Rather, I looked fruitlessly, Craig came home with a fruit basket. And a Snowboard. We did go to dinner, a rather cool baseball themed American restaurant. Exotic I know, but I had a craving for burgers. One that could not be filled by fast food. Although we went to McDonalds anyway. And KFC. In fact it was an incredibly unhealthy weekend. Of course we went to an Arcade, I don’t remember the last time I have been to a city and not been to an Arcade, its just the thing to do. I’m not a good shopper – terrible stamina, but I can spend many a happy hour playing video games! Sapporo is particularly beautiful at this time of year, lots of Christmas lights and decorations decking the streets. Odori park in particular is a little Christmas Wonderland. We watched an impressive light/music show. The choice of music was odd at times – the Superman theme tune but on a strange electronic keyboard played by a woman in a bubble. But the lights all flash in time to the music, and there was a kid at the front who was really going for it, so I was entertained. Whilst not out in town we met a group of English bankers who were living in Tokyo, who were good fun for their time, very wealthy as well, so we sponged off them for a good while. Its after meeting them and Alex (another PT representative down in Tokyo) that I’ve started doing some more thinking about life after Japan and University. Perhaps going into finances won’t make me the devil. But who knows. A discussion for another time. (more…)

Starting on the 21^st November with our official joint birthday party (as Craig’s birthday is on the 26^th, and mine the 22^nd) this was undoubtedly the longest birthday I have ever had. The past two years I’ve planned and held parties at home , so its quite strange to not be remotely involved in the planning of any of it this year. I was told two weeks prior that this was when my birthday party was and I should probably come along. Anyway, so the first party was mainly with students of our respective English classes, who make up the bulk of the people we are involved with on a regular basis anyway. Kenzo and Oumouri-san plus Hiromi and a few others from the Board of Education made an appearance. There was a pair of girls who were joining our class the following week who had been invited along to meet everyone. One of which I could have sworn I knew. Which I in fact I did, Craig and I had met them whilst rather drunk at our Welcome party two weeks prior. Whoops, nice introduction, a good long grope. So that was pretty funny. The star studded event was held in “The Japanese Room” at the Sogo centre. The feast provided by the guests I believe, and as usual there was a despicable amount of leftover really good food. Of course they couldn’t resist showing “Hokkaido chu Hizakurige” (Our TV Show) at the party. Followed by the never ending stream of presents, so that again I was rather embarrassed by people’s generosity. It was a really nice party actually, definitely a change from the party I would have had at home! I haven’t had that many presents since I was about 8 years old. Other highlight had to be the spelling they came up with for Craig on his cake “Kuratagu”. Genius. We only had the room booked until 9pm so the party was cut a little short and moved on to the only Karaoke bar in Toya. Unfortunately not many people could come, and the Karaoke machine was a little antiquated to say the least. Still, Karaoke is fun whatever. And only having old songs just means more Queen, which nobody ever gets tired of listening to song very poorly…

All the way up until the 26^th we were thrown parties. At the schools, nurseries, and of course the obligatory trip to the Guten Tag for Craig’s big day. Party at the elementary school was particularly nice, card from every students and a hand made present. (Mine was a cardboard box with a cardboard Pikachu on the top, and of course a Japanese flag to make it complete) I couldn’t help but laugh when I saw it, but I was touched. J No birthday can be celebrated without doing something traditional though. So off to Sapporo it was the weekend after for real celebration!

I won’t bother apologising for this one, just get straight into it. If you recall (put link) Craig and I are regular members of the Toya Yosakoi dance team. Practicing for two hours every Monday and Friday. All our practice was finally put to the test at the end of November for our debut performance at the Sogo Centre for the Toya Culture festival happened. We had spent pretty much every opportunity available practicing in the week running up the big day. After all, when you are doing synchronized dancing mistakes are pretty obvious. And horrendously obvious there were. Seemingly I don’t do well under pressure, within seconds of coming on stage I was sweating more than a (insert analogy here). Amazingly I managed to make a mistake within the first two seconds whilst we were in our tight packed triangle formation, and being twice as tall as the girl in front of me it was a clearly visible mistake. Mercifully things picked up a bit from here, I looked mortified the entire time, but at least I managed to get through without any more terrible mistakes. Watching the video afterwards was painful anyway, more practice is definitely needed. I would post the video if I weren’t so deeply ashamed. And in all seriousness it may as well have been filmed by a blind drunkard, its that good, Spielberg would be proud. The next performance was to be at the “200days before the G8″ festival on December 20th. Which, joy of joys, my parents would be able to watch. (Was that sarcasm? Even I’m not sure)

The so called festival was held in a much larger exhibition centre over in Toya-onsen. It was a pretty big event, with quite a few local politicians and important people coming along. They were aiming for 1000 people to come and watch, I have no idea how many actually came, it seemed pretty full, but I dared not look at the crowd for fear of making a mistake. Waiting back stage was horrible, the sweats had already started and I hadn’t even got going yet. But the time came and in all honesty it went pretty well I think. Didn’t make any big mistakes, which is always a plus. My mortified look was still a problem, the only time I smiled was when I heard Craig crash into the lights and the back of the stage! Hopefully it was made up for with the crazy hair and makeup. For the first performance Craig and I had quite literally rolled out of bed and come up to the centre, where we found everyone else had made themselves up rather coolly. So we vowed to make an effort this time. With my quite long hair that was easy enough, at first anyway, no-matter how much wax I used it would not stay up for long. Looked cool regardless. So mission accomplished. Next time is going to be extravagant. Mum and Dad seemed quite impressed at the after party in the glamorous Guten Tag, I wonder if they had the same reaction I did when I first saw Yosakoi in action, as in “My God that looks cool!” Onishi-san (guy with the awesome beard) made a video or parts of the performance, and I’m sure a full video must exist somewhere. Just have to find it!

Yosakoi has again moved on however, the day we got back from Tokyo an instructor from a dance school in Sapporo came to Toya for an all day session on our new dance. The parts I was there for seem doable. Unfortunately I missed the first session so the beginning escaped me a bit, completely. It probably didn’t help that I was not remotely in the mood for dance practice. Having just got back from Tokyo I was in much need of a good sleep and Xbox session – the effect of staying up reading a book about a video game. Thankfully I got my fix and finished the game last night after a marathon session

The two resorts nearest to me here in Toya are Rusutsu and Niseko. Rusutsu is a short 30minute bus ride away, making it extremely convenient for the weekends. Plus I can sneak into the Hotel’s Onsen for free after a hard day. Niseko is a little further, a good hour by car, Niseko is more a special occasion place for me, as I haven’t figured out how to get there by bus yet. Despite the resorts opening at the beginning of December I’ve only managed to spend 8 days on the slopes, an even 4 days in each so far. I gave Niseko a brief introduction in my post back in November so I won’t bother saying too much about it. The only new things I learnt was that Niseko is made up of three separate resorts, and that it is an infinitely more beautiful place in the snow. Yumi took us along on Saturday morning for the opening weekend at the Grand Hirafu resort. Only two short runs were open but considering its been quite a few years since I have been boarding it was probably good to ease myself in rather than belting down the mountain like a maniac. Fortunately I remembered quickly, and was back to my normal self flying down the mountain. I think snowboarding actually gets more fun the older I get, for better or for worse I have much less fear of going too fast than I used to! Craig did very well for a first timer with no instruction other than Yumi and the few tips I gave before moving on down the mountain. I would like to devote more time to helping him but the excitement of seeing snow took over so I was forced to leave him to it. Fortunately he seems to be getting the hang of it, the saying that practice makes perfect holds true for sure. The only problem with snowboarding around here is the cost, with 5000Yen lift pass prices, plus around 4000Yen rental for the day, things add up quickly. One of those can be eliminated however, by buying a snowboard J

Honestly I had a bit of hassle getting a board out here. Due to height and weight compared to the average Japanese finding a board long enough in an actual shop proved impossible. And that is without factoring in my big feet. Yumi as usual was fantastic, ferrying Craig and I to Date and Muroran to have a look at some kit. Boots I got in Date, decent price at 16000Yen, although they are last years model, but then again, it’s a boot, how much can boot technology have come forward in a year? Board and bindings were a job for the internet, much cheaper as a bonus. Typically the first order failed (English credit cards not liked seemingly) so once again Yumi to the rescue with here native card. Having spent 5days on my new kit I’m really pleased with it in general, I’ve only ever used rental stuff before, so by jumping from the bottom to mid/high end Burton equipment I can really feel the difference. So much more bite when carving, especially if the terrain is a bit bumpy. The only problem I have is with the boots, but in honesty I suspect it’s a problem with me rather than them. I have notoriously poor circulation in my feet and as such am always complaining of cold feet. Consequently once I have nicely restrictive boots on numbness due to lack of blood flow quickly sets in. So much to the point I can only survive a couple of runs before I need to unbuckle. I also reckon my boots are a ½ size too big for me. In the shop they felt great, but now they’ve started to give I feel my heel rising up (which is not a good thing) necessitating doing straps up tighter, compounding the whole numb toes issue. It’s a vicious cycle.

Despite these problems, my enthusiasm enables me to keep going for many hours a day. I think the longest day Ben and I managed in Niseko was nearing 9 hours. Definitely getting out money’s worth! So without sounding too confident I am definitely improving, still some spectacular crashes mind you. Here comes the bit where I will sing the praises of helmets. I have lost count of the times I have slammed into the ground and tumbled 20metres down the hill, only to lie there winded, thinking “My god that would have hurt SO much more if I wasn’t wearing a helmet” Not to mention its really handy to not have to claw your way back up the hill to dig your hat and goggles out of the snow after you’ve fallen. Despite the helmet though after each day of boarding I usually feel I’ve been in tumble-dryer all day, only stopping so someone can kick me. My left knee still hurts from a fall back on the 24^th! Only after I have been sitting down for a long period of time however, which is curious. Other than that one I’m injury free for the moment, had a nice black eye after day three at Niseko, perhaps getting a bit cocky I thought I could follow Ben through the terrain park (Big jumps basically), I had had a little practice doing tiny jumps on the slopes, but nothing like this. Fortunately I landed the first one OK, the second one wasn’t pretty however. I’ll put it down to being at the end of the day so the ground was all choppy…whatever happened I came out with a black eye and a painful shoulder.

It was whilst at Niseko with Ben, Mike and my family, that I discovered a love for night skiing. I can’t fathom why I hadn’t tried it until now (I can really, was too young). From what my dad told me Hirafu is one of the better places for night skiing that he has been to, most places are apparently just one or two crowded poorly lit slopes. Hirafu however, has about 2/3 of the resort open. All really well lit to boot. So after about 5pm the day people all go home, leaving the slopes empty for our enjoyment. Truly amazing, and so much more relaxing when you don’t have to worry about mowing down the people in front of you. The only downside is the slopes are a bit cut up after people have been on them all day, but nothing that can’t be dealt with. Have I said enough about snowboarding yet? No? Well just one more thing. The greatest food ever to have when you are out on the slopes has to be this, Seasoned rice, covered in a large sloppy omelette, and curry sauce. Throw in chicken nuggets for good measure…delicious.

Coming soon…and edit on my new love of tree runs!