Koho Tadami Diary Entry - October

When I arrived in Tadami, one of the things they asked me to do was write a short article in the town newspaper each month. The newspaper is called the Koho Tadami, and it's a free newspaper that is delivered to every home to let them know what's going on in the town. Apparently my activities are of much interest as I am the only foreigner. I write them in English and one of the teachers translates them for the paper, which is why the English is usually quite simple. I thought I would put the English versions up on this blog so I can keep a permanent record of what I wrote.

Bryn’s Diary Entry – October

I’ve now been here in Tadami for 8 weeks. The time seems to have passed very quickly. I have had many new experiences here and I am enjoying life very much. I have met lots of new people and made many new friends. I have been to lots of festivals and parties and have seen many new things. I have tried many types of Japanese food. Japanese food is very different to English food but it is very delicious and I like it a lot.

Last weekend I went to Tadami Junior High School festival. It was great; the children’s performances were excellent.

I also climbed Gamo Dake Mountain last week which was good fun. In my home town in England there are no mountains so I enjoyed it very much. The views at the top were excellent. The leaves are all changing color and it looks beautiful. The photo is of me at the top of Gamo Dake.
The weather is getting a little cooler now and soon the winter will be here. I am looking forward to the winter as I would like to learn to snowboard. I have never been snowboarding before.

Camping at Lake Hibarako

This weekend a group of us went camping at Lake Hibarako. It’s a lake near Inawashiro and was one of the lakes created when Mt. Bandai erupted in 1888. It was really scenic but unfortunately I forgot my camera, so the only photos I have are from friends that went and I didn’t manage to get in any of them.

There were about 15 of us altogether. (Me, Will, Brian, Geoff, Marchell, Steff, Tracey, Paul, Becca, Desiree and a few other people I didn’t know.) We only spent the Saturday night there but turned up quite early on Saturday morning. It was all arranged by Marchell (A crazy Kiwi JET). He had booked a great little campsite right on the lake. When we got there we set up the tents and just chilled out. We played a bit of Hakki-sack and Frisbee as more people started arriving. Marchell had bought a guitar so Paul and I were playing a few tunes. It was all very relaxed and a really beautiful place.

Our camp setup:

We were only about 20 metres from the lake

The night drew in pretty quickly and we got the fires going. Marchell, Paul and Desiree were demonstrating some fire poi which was quite impressive. Although the weather was really nice during the day it got a bit cold in the evening and when the campsite owner brought a huge pan of oden (Japanese stew) down it was much appreciated. We sat around the campfire, chatting and drinking until we headed to the tents gradually in the night.

The lake as the night drew in.

Paul on the guitar.

Marchell, Geoff, Will and Paul sorting out the food

Geoff, Becca and Paul round the fire

Marchell serving up the oden

Paul showing some fire poi!

Desiree on the fire poi!

The next day we had free use of the campsites Canoes, boats, and mountain bikes, so we all made use of them. Geoff and I took a canoe out for a couple of hours and went all round the lake. It was really beautiful as all the leaves were in full autumn colours. After this me and Becca took a couple of the bikes for a bit of a ride. We headed to the five coloured lakes which looked amazing. The lakes are called the five colour lakes because each one is a different shade of blue/green/turquoise because of the level of minerals in them due to the eruption. I was really disappointed not to have my camera with me to take some photos of this, but hopefully I will return another time.

Brian, Marchell and some guy I don't know on a boat with the colouful trees

I got home quite late and quite tired on Sunday night, but it was a really nice weekend and made me determined to get out and do more in the country side when the spring and summer comes round!

Tadmai Chu Bunkasai and Climbing Gamo Dake

This weekend I was asked to attend the Tadami Junior High School Bunkasai (Cultural Festival) I had helped some of the students with their English displays so it was nice to be able to see them perform. Many parents came to watch their children and there was several plays, musical performances, and dance performances. It was quite entertaining, although not being able to understand a lot of it, it did seem to drag a little bit. Here is a photo with one of my JTEs (Ikegami Sensei) and a 2nd Grade class afterwards:

And another photo of the head of the student council being thrown in the air:

It didn't really seem like work, but it did mean I had to come into school in my own time, so I got a day off on Monday. Satoko usually has her days off on Monday too so we decided to climb one of the mountains in Tadami. It's not very big only about 800m but it was quite steep and really enjoyable to climb up.

There were parts where there were ropes and it would have actually been quite difficult to climb without them. It would have been even more difficult going down without the ropes as it was a bit slippy. Satokos mum came with us as well and seemed to find it much easier than me (The big clumsy foreigner) to get down.

On the way up I somehow managed to step in some bear shit. I thought it was on Satoko's shoe at first and then felt pretty stupid when I realised it was me. There's lots of bears around Tadami but they are usually very timid and if you carry a bell they stay away from the sound. Unfortunately though it does not do anything to prevent people from stepping in their shit and it was a pretty awful smell.

Despite the smell we got to the top at a leisurely pace in just over an hour. When we got there, there was a a small wooden box with a book to write in. I thought it was a nice little touch and there was even a message from Simon who was the ALT in Tadami a few years ago. There were some great views from the top and you could really see just how many mountains there are around Tadami. Hopefully I'll climb a few more of them before I leave.

Tadami Ekiden

It had been a pretty hetic and pretty booze filled time since I arrived in Japan, so this weekend I planned to take it easy and relax. I was running in the Tadami Ekiden (Relay longdistance run around the town) on Sunday so I didn't want to have much to drink on Friday or Saturday so I was in peak shape for the run! Ok so I was never gonna be in peak shape but I thought I would be slightly better with if I didn't have a hangover! Anyway with all my good intentions I was invited out with some of my teachers on Friday night, I found it pretty difficulte to refuse (obviously due to the language barrier as oposed to me just wanting too ha ha!) and got pretty pissed before going to the Kareoke till the early hours. I didn't feel too chipper on saturday and didn't really do a lot.

Anyway sunday came and I was feeling a bit better, so headed out to meet up with my team. I was running with Satoko and some of her friends who I play football with, and I was really pleased to be asked to join in with them. There was about 40 teams in the adults race and some of them looked like they were taking it pretty seriously. People in Japan often only stick to one sport but they take that sport pretty seriously and get really good at it. Luckily our team was more of a social competitor. There were 8 runners in each team, and each leg of the race was between 3 and 9km with the total distance about 50km. I took the 3rd leg and had to run about 5km. Not a very long distance but I hadn't done much running in Japan. My first full day in Tadami I went for a jog to explore a bit, but I hadn't done anything since then. Our team ended up comming about 5th from last but it was good fun and there were quite a lot of people spectating. I also managed to overtake a few teams on my leg, so I felt I put in a reasonable performance.

After the race our team headed to a campsite up one of the mountains where Satoko's friends had hired a log cabin for the night. One of the guys there was the chef and owner of the local resturant, Kirin, so the food was great. Kirin is where everyone meets after football and also lent it's name to our Ekiden team. We made homemade pizzas, in a traditional out door log fire oven! I also learnt how to gut a squid and make Sashimi (Sliced Raw Fish). Again there lots of alcohol to drink and as monday was a national holiday I happil obliged. I was pretty shattered though and I fell asleep quite early!

I don't have any photos from the log cabin unfortuneately but here are a few from the Ekiden:

The Kirin Ekiden Team
One of the more serious teams crossing the finish line!
Our team's last leg runner crossing the finish line, quite a while later!