I have moved my blog

Just to let you know, I am now blogging over at the new yahoo service - 360. Please redirect your browsers there, and come and check me out! Link to it here - http:360.yahoo.com/cmaxi


See you over there...

Okinawa

I recently returned from a week spent in Naha, Okinawa. I had always wanted to go, and had the opportunity to sneak it in just before I returned back to Canada. Plus I used my airline points, so what couldn't be better than a little sand n' sun before I return back to chilly Canada.


Naha is a big busy city. However it has a nice mixture of the new and old. Like most Japanese resort areas though, everything looked run down and past its prime. Naha main street consisted of lots of souvineer shops selling similar goods. I did manage to buy a shamisen which is a local instrument that has the most beautiful sound.

Home at Last.

Yes yes YES! I am home now, and settling back into my life in Canada. But before I update you on that, lets catch up on a couple of things I did before I got home...enjoy.

Airline Points! Yeah!

I am off to Okinawa for some R and R thanks to points accured on my card. Have never been there, but am totally stoked. I'll take lots of pictures for you.
See you when I get back...

A very special spot that I have often shared with a special person. Thank you... 

In One Ear and Out the Other 

Japanese Stuff found in Newpapers Part 1

Something that I noticed while working in a Japanese public school was the large number of kids that sleep through the class (never my classes mind you.) While this is almost unheard of in Western culture, Japanese students make a regular habit of it.
Yesterday my newspaper published an article comparing the sleeping habits of Japanese, U.S. and Chinese students. An astounding 78% of Japanese students said they often sleep or daydream in class. American students came in at 48% while only a quarter (25%) of Chinese students sleep.
And the reason? Japanese students go to bed the latest. Over half of them are going to bed after midnight, while most U.S. students tuck in by 10pm. No wonder they are so sleepy...

Train Crash? I Want to Bowl...

Japan West Train Execs are again under fire as today it was revealed that a group of 30 to 40 staff members upon hearing about the major train crash continue to play bowling at a staff party they were at! What a bunch of morons, and as you can imagine the Japanese public is outraged. To add insult it seems that after their game some continued on and proceeded to get wasted at 3 in the afternoon. Crazy. When asked why they continued to keep playing, younger staff said they were 'scared' to tell their surperiors. And the boss - well he just denied that he knew about the train crash. Awful.

Rakugo 

Rakugo

Yesterday my friend treated me to an English Rakugo experience. Rakugo is a style of Japanese comedy where a solo preformer tells a humerous story. Premormers sit on a Japanese cushion called a 'zaibuton' and are only allowed to use one prop - a fan. Stories usually last for 20 minutes with the actor assuming the roles and voices of many different characters during the skit.
The theater was fantastic, and the concert was unique in that Rakugo is normally told in Japanese. Japanese and foreign preformers both preformed.
There were more people than I expected however the crowd was 95% Japanese.
As for the preformance itself, not really my cup of tea. The humor is silly, perhaps best described as 'toilet humor.' Drunk guy mistakes mail box for wife, or blind thief robs house but can't find anything, kind of humor. My laughs were few and far between.
Still an enjoyable afternoon and chalk up another Japanese cultural experience done off the list.

Rescue team working around the clock. 

Train Accident Part 2

I'm not sure what I had expected...In a way I sensed an excitement that I had never felt before. A big disaster happening near me, a first. 10 minutes away, people dying, and still in pain. I was moved, tortured, somehow I wished that I could do something. But it seemed to be business as normal here. I know that people were grieving , and it was all over the papers and news but I couldn't see any outward pouring of emotion. And to that, I didn't know what to expect. People walking around with frowns on their faces? People crying in the street? No none of that. As I passed through the station where it had happened and glanced over at where that train should have arrived I noticed the platform eerily deserted. The arrival board was covered with a white piece of paper that told customers that the train would be delayed indefinitely. Spooky. The Japanese seem to have an ability to move forward in times of distress. And God knows how many times they have had to do that in the past. I think what is most shocking is that it seems to me that this is not on everyone's lips. Or perhaps they (or the media) have beat it to death.
Some aspects about it that are bothering me:
1. The age of the driver. He was 23. In my opinion much to young to be responsible for over 500 peoples lives.
2. The conductor lied about the amount of distance that the driver had overrun at the previous station to the police. Intitally he had said they missed the earlier station by 8 meters however it turns out it was 40 meters. He had to back up at the previous station and this might have been why he was speeding. If he was?
3. The amount of young people that died. The train line was on a stop at a famous Japanese univeristy and it seems a number of young bright students perished. Sad.
4. The driver had a previous violation for over-running a station 8 months earlier.

I hope that they find out the cause of the accident. A estimated 70 million Japanese use the trains each year.
Myself and all those who ride the trains will be waiting for answers.

Off to Aichi for Expo

Tomorrow I leave for a two day trip to Expo and I couldn't be more excited! I live for these massive cultural events and am lucky to be able to visit one so close. I'll hop on a bullet train tomorrow morning and should reach the site in under two hours.
I have found memories of my last Expo - Vancouver, 1986. My parents took me and I remember being dazzled by all the sights and smells coming from the different countries' pavillions. Specifically I remember the Japanese pavillion very vividly. My brother and I bought a sort of ninja headband, and spent the rest of the day running around pretending to kill each other. Fun stuff! I am going to take lots of pictures so I'll show them to you when I get back.
Later...