30 ⽇ - 30 Days

This is really it. I only have 30 more days here in Nagasaki, and 34 more days in Japan. How did I get here? How did I make it this far?
My Mum is coming to visit me on Sunday and will stay in Japan for two weeks. As great a blessing as this is, with it comes the need for a lot of preparation, planning ans socializing on my part. My social life has never been as active as it is now, I don't think. All of my friends at the hospital are really excited about her visit so I've been getting a lot of invitations for us both for dinner and stuff. I haven't had to turn anybody down yet but our schedule is getting so full that I might have to soon. I should stop complaining. It is reminding me how much a part of the hospital I feel now.

Speaking of socializing, May and I have been invited to Sinenkai this Thursday. Remember Bonenkai, the end of year party that was held in the middle of December? Well, Shinenkai is the start of year party. It will be a night full of food, alcohol and semi-naked dancing no doubt, at least it will if Bonenkai is anything to go by. Is it wrong that I am looking forward to it even though I know this? When I asked a few of the nurses on 6E if they were planning on going, they all raised their hands in unison and yelled, “Iku! Iku!” (“I'm going, I'm going!”). Looks like I'm not the only one who is looking forward to it.

No Beanstalk Though

Ha! I successfully made my own red bean sweet paste this morning, without a recipe I might add. Now I can conquer the world!

Here in Japan, everything has this sweet bean paste in it. You bite into a cake or pastry and expect it to be filled with jam or cream or something, but nine times out of ten it is filled with this paste. At first that bothered me but now I love it. I have no idea what it is called but it sure is yummy. I think I'm going to take some of the dry beans back to England with me so I can make some for my family.

Woo. Feeling productive.

⼦ども - Children

Here are a few photographs of the children who go to the hospital nursery. All of these photos were taken by May with her camera so I can take no credit for them whatsoever. (Where I have listed two names, the latter is the shortened version that we use over their full names).

Ayaka-/Aya-chan:
Aya-chan is the oldest child at the nursery. Last week, while playing with a piece of my hair, she asked "why is your hair yellow?". Very good question, Aya-chan. Unfortunately, even if I were able to explain in Japanese, I think the concept of genetic inheritance might be lost on a four year-old. Still, I think she has a lot of potential.

Tatsuhi-/Tabo-kun:

Hiroto-/Hiro-kun:

Reina-/Rei-chan:
Hiro-kun and Rei-chan are siblings. Watching Rei-chan play, you can tell she has an older brother. She's forceful, stubborn and a little rough. Oh, and everything is a competition. Yeah, I can relate to that, having grown up with two older brothers myself.

Yuto-kun:

Yuna-chan:

Rintoro-/Rin-kun:
May did well to get a picture of Rin-kun that isn't a complete blur. He never stays still. You have to watch out for him because he seems to like climbing on things and then jumping off them, and he'll happily use you as a prop in his never-ending obstacle course.

Haurka-/Haru-chan:

Yukika-/Yuki-chan:
It was a miracle to get a photo of Yuki-chan where she isn't crying. She doesn't like May and me, so cries for about 90% of the time we are there. The 10% when she isn't crying she is usually laughing at Hiro-kun pulling faces at her.

Tateki-kun (with Re-chan):
Tateki-kun is the most quiet, gentle little boy that you will ever meet. What's funny is that his Dad (who is a doctor at the hospital) is exactly the same.

Tateki-kun & Yuna-chan:

べっぷ – Beppu III

I know, I know, I went to Beppu like two weeks ago and I should really have posted about it by now. Better late than never though.

May and I left Nagasaki a week last Saturday on an 8:40 bus direct to Beppu. After a scenic and at points very windy journey, we arrived in central Beppu at around 12:30. Hungry, we quickly found our hotel, the Ekimae Goto Onsen, dumped our bags there and checked out the nearby train station for restaurants. We settled on a steaming hot bowl of udon in the end. We then explored the town a bit, found a Korean restaurant, much to our interest and then got on a tour bus of the local rigoku or 'hell springs'. These are some of Japan's hot springs that you definitely do not want to bathe in. Too hot and too toxic. Beppu is famous for it's hot springs by the way. There are two types, the rigoku hells and the onsen, in which you bathe. Our hotel, as its name suggests, sits directly over one of these onsen, which we had the pleasure of being able to use whenever we wanted.
We decided on the Korean restaurant for dinner because May has been making me salivate for months whenever she talks about Korean food – hot, healthy and spicy, mmm. The owner was Korean, so May enjoyed being able to speak in her native language for a night, and I was happy because I had a plate of awesome food in front of me. The owner was impressed that I managed to eat all of the kimchi soup that May ordered for me because kimchi is used in Korean cooking to make everything super spicy. Being English however, I grew up eating Indian curry so a little bit of spicy cabbage barely registered on my Hot-O-Meter.
After dinner, we explored a bit more, shopped, took some photographs. What made my night though was spotting something that I have been looking for in Japan for four months. It was something that I specifically wanted to give as a present to one of my family members and here it was, in a small souvenir shop in Beppu, Oita-Ken. It was cheaper than I expected too, although a little awkward to carry ;-)

Sunday started bright and early with a short train ride to Oita city, then a two-hour bus journey to Aso town in Kumamoto-Ken. From there we took another 40-minute bus ride up Aso-san (Mount Aso). We then took a cable car a few hundred metres to the top of Nakadake, one of the five peaks that makes up Aso-san. It was freezing - there was snow and everything - so we ran to take our first peek inside a volcano crater, got one of the Korean tourists who we met on the bus journey to take a quick photograph and then headed back down the mountain to a reasonable altitude. The photos we took didn't really do the spectacular landscape justice, but at least they have given you an idea of what I am talking about.

Cold, tired and hungry we made it back to Beppu at around 8pm. We did what anyone would have done in that situation: We went back to the Korean restaurant for dinner, into the open arms of the owner, and then soaked in the onsen at our hotel before heading to bed. Our bath was even more pleasurable as all the lovely food in our tummies hadn't cost us a penny. There was a Japanese man at the Korean restaurant who had had one too many sake's and on a whim decided to pay for the dinner of the two foreign girls sitting at the next table. Anything can happen.
After another quick dip in the hotel onsen the following morning, we checked out and caught our bus back to Nagasaki, squeaky clean but ready for a rest. It's amazing how tiring sitting on bus for hours on end is. I mean you're just sitting there, so why do you get off feeling like you need a good long nap?

*

People at the hospital are sensing that our time in Nagasaki is coming to an end. We have had three invitations this week already. Last week we had three also. We had to only pay for one of our meals last weekend. Aside from the obvious financial benefits, I am really enjoying making the most of my final few weeks in Japan. The people here are just great. Generous, kind, attentive. I have made some really good friends. It's almost a shame that I am leaving so soon.

せいじんしき - Seijinshiki Festival

The second Monday in January marks the Seijin No Hi, or coming of age day. Men and women who have reached the age of 20 (hatachi) celebrate on this day the start of their adulthood. It seems to be acceptable to celebrate Seijinshiki not just on this day though, at least things certainly look that way as May and I celebrated it this Saturday just gone. She is 20 years old according to the western counting system and I am 20 according the Japanese counting system (where you are 1 on the day you are born). So either way you look at it, one of us was supposed to be celebrating our coming of age.

Kumiko-san and Oka-san kindly arranged for us to be dressed in their kimono for the day. We had tried on yukata (summer kimono) at the International Festival that took place in October but these... these were bone fide, the-whole-nine-yards kimono. It took two people two and a half hours to dress both May and me. There were so many layers, bits of string, back-boards, padding, towels... ugh, it was all very exciting and interesting and something I will remember for the rest of my life, but boy, was it tiring. It was very similar to how I imagine being dressed in a corset would be like - lots of pulling, tugging, bracing yourself - as was the end result: very pretty, but difficult to walk and breathe in.


Once fully kimono-clad, we took a walk around the hospital (where we got dressed) and showed a few of our friends on the staff. There were many “Kawai ne!” (“Cute!”), “Sugoi ne!” (“Amazing!”) and “Kirei!” (“Pretty!”), which was all very nice. After some photo-taking we then got in to Oka-san's car and drove to Suwa-jinja (the main Shinto shrine in Nagasaki). Something to note: riding in a car with a huge obi shaped into a flower on your back is tiring work!


After only a few hours of wearing the kimono, we were glad to get them off and back into our jeans. I have a new-found respect for women who wear kimono regularly, particularly geisha, who's kimono are notoriously heavy. Really, it was hard work just standing in them. Doing anything else required additional effort too. Still, kire katta desu, ne! (they were pretty, weren't they).

べっぷのしゃしん - Beppu Photographs

I still don't have any time to write, so here are some photographs to keep you all quiet.

べっぷ - Beppu

Wow, what a weekend I had. I spent three days in Beppu in Ōita-ken with May, and we even managed to squeeze in a day trip to Aso-san too, a volcano in central Kyūshū. I have had hardly any time to write anything since getting back, so I will let some of my photographs do all the talking.

Kanja-san

I met a terminal cancer patient yesterday. It was only part way through a wonderful conversation with her that she told me her diagnosis. I didn`t really know what to say, so I just said that I was sorry and that it sounded like she had had an amazing life. She told me she had traveled to 25 countries, including England three times, and China, where she taught English. I found myself thinking about her last night and I regretted not learning more about her when I had the chance. Today though I found out her name and the date of her next treatment at the hospital. I have also loosely arranged to get a little time off work to go and see her when she is next here. I feel like I should buy her a gift or something, but what does one buy for someone who is dying? I can`t even give her food because she has no appetite due to all of her medications. Maybe I should just give her as much of my time as possible….?

50 Days To Go

Today marks only fifty more days left of my placement in Nagasaki. Can I hear a "woo!"?

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I am going to Oita this weekend with May. More on this when I get back.

しゃしん - Photographs

Overlooking the Urakami river, taken from a bridge in front of the Red Cross Genbaku Hospital:

New Year decorations in the entranceway to a pachinko (vertical pinball) arcade:

The Ferris Wheel under construction atop a new department store, due to be completed in April:

A cartoon strip on the side of a building – I don't know why it is there, what it is trying to say, or why all of the characters are naked, so don't ask:

Overlooking the main street and tram-line in central Nagasaki:

It's not just clean. It's "Smokin' Clean":

Detail on some stone stairs at the Nagasaki Municipal Park:

きょうそう – Running

I discovered that there is a running track within five minutes walk of my apartment I think on the second or third day of living in Nagasaki. I have been meaning post about it ever since. There always seemed to be more important things to write about, that is, until this post-new-year lull in activity. So here goes. Here's a post I wrote months ago that never got published:

I'm not one of those people who need a whole gym, complete with swimming pools, sauna's and whatever else gyms have these days. I'm not saying I don't like all that stuff, I just don't need it. All I need is a good pair of running shoes. I love to run. Back in England I would run alongside the canal, which made a beautiful route and also a cheap one. The canal runs behind the running track in Preston, which I would have used if they weren't charging £5 for each time you used it. It would have been nice to know how far I was running and how fast so that I could set myself goals, but there was no way I was going to pay five quid a go. So imagine my surprise and joy when I discover that not only does Nagasaki have a running track that is remarkably close to my apartment, but that it is completely free. I go running there two to four times a week now.
It is really pleasing as a runner to see the track being used by so many people of so many varying abilities. I have seen toddlers running about two metres and then getting distracted by something on the ground. I have seen ninety-year-old's walking a lap in twenty minutes. The local schools use it for P.E. lessons and sports events, and I have seen some professional athletes training there too. Japan truly is a nation of runners! It also has it's fair share of walkers, some of whom deserve honorary membership in the Ministry of Silly Walks. Seriously, there are people who look like they are dancing their way round the track (even when they aren't listening to music on an MP3 player), people who I can only guess have had one of their hips fused in a replacement operation at some point in the past, and people who have legs so bow-shaped they could carry a beach ball between their knees. I think it's great though, that people of any ability feel they can come to the track and exercise. You just wouldn't get that in England. You have to be able to run 10km in 30 minutes to feel worthy to use a track in England, which is such a shame.
There are two tracks - an inner 400m and an outer 600m. The inner has a sand surface and the outer is just pavement. I use the outer track because you only have to run two thirds of the number of laps to do the same distance and also, I don't like to get sand in my shoes. It is a really nice set-up they have, with bathrooms and water fountains at every corner (i.e. every 150m) and even on especially busy days, there is plenty of room for everyone. I took these photo's on a Saturday morning, which is normally very busy indeed, but not this day. There was a marathon the weekend before in Nagasaki, so maybe runners were staying home to rest after that.

クリスマス と おしょうがつ - Christmas and New Year

It seems like an age since I last posted anything here. A lot has happened. I have spent my second Christmas abroad and 2007 has come to an end. Being as we are now in January, I have the delight of being able to say that next month I am going home. There are what feels like a million crucial and complicated things that I need to do before then, but no matter how stressed I get with all of that I just have to remember that in a little over two months none of this will be important.

So, Japanese Christmas. May summed it up perfectly in one sentence: they don't celebrate it religiously or culturally, they just think it looks pretty. It is very true that Christmas can transform even the drabbest train station or department store into a fantasy land of lights and decorations, but this rather superficial celebration of Christmas is rather lacking in the spirit of the season that we love in the West. With no family or close friends here in Nagasaki, Christmas passed May and I by without really changing our moods much. We did have a very pleasant time, it was just missing that something special that makes Christmas Christmas.

On Friday 21st December we were taken out to Bagdad Café (that's 'Bagdad' as opposed to 'Baghdad', according to their sign) by Kumiko-san, along with Oka-san and Goto-sensei to enjoy their Christmas menu. It wasn't what I would call a traditional Christmas dinner, as it featured spaghetti, pizza and seafood salad, but it was very delicious none the less.
May and I were working on Christmas day so we moved our own Christmas celebration to the day before. We basically spent the whole day baking, eating (the food we'd baked, the cake we bought, anything else we could get our hands on) and watching rented DVD's. So not much change there from a regular Christmas, apart from maybe the baking and you would probably watch all the new DVD's you received as presents rather than rented ones. On the 25th, I was working with the home nurse while May was still working on 4F. This meant that while she was bed-making and sorting through patient files, I was visiting ordinary Japanese people in their homes. It was a wonderful and unique way to spend Christmas day actually, even more so because it seems to be standard for the patient to give cake and tea to their guests. May and I spent our lunchtime handing out sweets and cookies to some of the hospital staff and we received a few presents in return. In the evening, we were invited over to Oka-san's house, where we were surprised with another Christmas meal that her daughter had cooked. All in all, a very nice Christmas but, if I'm honest, not even close to the one I missed over in England.

Custom-made keyrings from Oka-san and her daughter:
New Year is a much bigger occasion in Japan than Christmas. We were given four days off from work (combined with the weekend, six days) which is the longest break we have had since coming here. We could have done loads of amazing things, travelled, made the absolute most of our little holiday, but we instead decided to spend most of it shopping and relaxing at home. Don't judge us, we needed the break. We had been waiting for January before we started seriously shopping (which we succeeded in doing, bar a few minor lapses in concentration) because we had heard that Japan has some major New Year sales. It even has it's own special name, hatsuri, or first sale of the year. AND they have special lucky bags (fukubukuro) just for this occasion. You don't know what is inside when you buy them, but they're only about half the price of the contents' value. You're not completely in the dark though, since there are sample bags that you can open and there are different sizes for the bags containing clothes. As interesting as it would have been to buy one, I decided against it. Besides, I had already seen exactly what I wanted to buy:

A blue skirt (¥9555, normal price ¥13,5000) – This is the perfect skirt for me, so I think it was worth spending the equivalent of 2 weeks food money on it, don't you think?
A new pair of jeans (¥3990) - I needed to replace my old ones which are starting to fall apart a little. This style is called 'Boyfriend Baggy, but I am quietly ignoring the claim that they are baggy. I was lucky to find jeans that fit me at all in a country where most girls have a 21” waist and weigh under 100lbs;
A black top (¥2048, reduced from ¥4096) - It didn't photograph well unfortunately, but you can take my word for it that it is cute and looks great with a red top I bought during one of my “lapses in concentration” last month;
A pair of earrings (¥1260) – These were too unusual and too pretty to miss.
Now, the people who know me will know I am not a big shopping person and that I am normally plagued with guilt for days after buying myself anything. Japan has changed me though. Japan is shopping country and I am in need of retail therapy. I wasn't completely selfish however– I bought some omiyage (souvenirs) for people too, which, for obvious reasons, I can't tell you much more about.

May and I had anticipated a lot of people at the department store for the sale on January 1st, so we decided to get there for 10am when it opened. We were shocked: there were hundreds of people ordering themselves into nice, neat queues outside every door into the store. I had heard that everyone goes to the shrine on New Years' morning but apparently shopping is really the priority here. Then came the second shock of 2008: when the doors were opened, people started running! I mean literally running... all over the shot. And the store clerks were yelling for people please not to run, but it was already too late by then. All sense of propriety had been thrown out of the window. Incredible.

New Year mochi (rice cake):
Throughout this whole holiday period the weather has been going crazy. On December 23rd it was 17ºc and 68% humidity; On January 1st it was 7ºc and snowing and hailing. It seems to be stabilizing again now, but I don't know how long that will last. I'm used to it always being 12ºc and drizzling in England – I just can't take this kind of sudden change.

I have no idea how to finish such a long, rambling post so I will just do it with a random picture. This was taken on January 1st near Hamanomachi:
Owari desu!