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.