Rounding up the Gaijin experience

3rd May 2006 - Day 45

Narita Airport, Tokyo

There's a lot to recount of the last few days, but I'll try to pack it all in.

We had a proper night out in Tokyo on Saturday, which involved staying out all night as our hostel had a curfew of 12pm (!). Perhaps inadvisably, we went to Roppongi for the night out, after turning up in Shinjuku and finding no decent bars after 20 minutes searching. To give you an idea how set up for Gaijins (foriegners) Roppongi is, we had our first pint watching Chelsea lift the Premiership trophy in a Hobgoblin. We might as well have been Maidenhead. After escaping from a Turkish bar which a tout had dragged us into, we ended up in a lame hip hop joint. It was a bit too agressive and I selfishly managed to corner the only girl who spoke English, which wasn't exactly fair on James who got bored. At about 2am we decided to head for Shibuya but it was probably too late in the evening and everything was winding down, so we waited the rest of the night out in a restaurant until the trains started running at five. We met a total idiot on the train home who was an '80's heavy metal promoter', who wandered up to us presuambly because we were speaking English. He declared himself 'sick of this country' and told us that he was only there because of his Japanese girlfriend, although he didn't have 'yellow-fever'. What a knob. I was about to give him a piece of my mind, when we heard the twee music that plays on the train/subway/shinkansen everytime you reach a station. He gave James his business card, which I promptly tore up and threw in he bin.

We're heading for Bangkok today, hoping that we can still do some teaching. We only have Jaz's lead, but we're going to be at a slight loss as to what to do with ourselves if we can't arrange anything. Perhaps we're being naive.

We've already had a fair share of good fortune. Our friend Iain put us up for a couple of night's at his flat in Inuyama. Inuyama is the site of the oldest surviving castle in Japan, and it's literal translation is 'Dog Mountain', also the name of Iain's blog. Teaching English for a living with a company called Nova, Iain lives in a flat with Darius, a New Zealander and fellow teacher.

I would imagine that working for a large organisation like Nova, is a good route to teching abroad, but to be employed by Nova if you don't have a TEFL, then you must at least have a university degree, so I wouldn't be able to work for them at present. Picking stuff up on the hop doesn't look feasible. This makes the situation with Practical Action (the NGO I was hoping to work for) all the more frustrating, and it's increasingly likely that we may be consigned to being fairly worthless during what could be the most productive time of our lives. Iain's been teaching in Japan for 10 months having left Aberdeen behind, and he's just signed a new contract with Nova. A TEFL is a route I might consider in the future, but I guess it might be impossible to teach in the meantime.

I digress - Iain met us at Nagoya, with his girlfriend Fiona, and took us back to Inuyama; a small town, but not exactly out in the sticks. Kei, one of Iain's friends and proprietor of a local bar/restaurant/tattoo parlour, was our host for the evening as we sunk beer and ate fantastic Enchiladas. Another of Iain's friends, Ray, an American ex-pat, also popped by and offered to show James and I around the castle and shrines the following day. It was great to be among some company again, and we really appreciated being invited to Kei's house for barbeque the following night.

From left: Fiona, Iain (with hat), Darius, James and Kei.













Inuyama castle built in 1537, orginally had a moat which protected not only the castle but the whole town. Numerous 20th century Shinto shrines, line the base of the castle with red (the colour of the fox), prominent throughout. In Japan, the fox is a legendary creature with supernatural powers for doing both good and evil. Peaches, which ward off evil spirits, were heavily incorporated into some of artwork on the shrines. One of the traditions which still continues in the local river for the benefit of curious tourists is cormorant fishing. Cormorant are restrained on leads and when they dive and swoop for fish, they cannot swallow because of the noose around their neck, so they return to the surface and return the catch to the fisherman. Needless to say I find this cruel.
One of the unique festivals held here every year, occurs during the cherry blossom in early April. During this festival huge carts, about 30 foot high, are paraded down the narrow streets of Inuyama, which have not changed their lay-out since the castle was built in the 16th centrury. These carts contain platforms for Karkuri puppetry which recount ancient folk tales which have fused with (and informed) both Buddhism and Shinto in Japan. The complex working of the puppetry was originally developed as a clandestine system for experimenting with mechanics and new technologies, which were outlawed by the Emperor of the time for being western or more specifically un-Japanese. The carts which have special building for housing their bulk during the rest of year, and these sheds are dotted among the shrines and traditional wooden housing of the castle area. The carts are pushed by local men during the festival, having no motors inside. When the cart needs to turn, it is physically lifted despite weighing several tonnes! For compensation and to keep the party atmosphere going the men have a crate of beer or sake positioned underneath the chassis for swigging as they go on their merry way, being slave drive by foreman (a lot of that goes on in Japan, by my observation). Needless to say the guys get pretty drunk over the course of a day, and the whole precarious wooden structure wobbles down the lane in a rather perilous fashion.

Aside from this and he beauiful Buddhist shrines in Inuyama, there is the small matter of the vagina and penis fertility festivals (!) which take place once a year. The celebration at these events is rowdy, but the intention is fairly innocent celebrating creation, renewal and prosperity for the rest of the year. All generations attend and from the very youngest to the oldest everyone rubs the fake phallus and vulva devoid of embarassment or shame. Of course it's a bit much for an English gent!

We only know/saw all of this because of Iain, Ray, Fiona, Darius and Kei's good will, I hope I can return the favour a some point..

Detailed carving on a new buddhist shrine, built in the last few years.












Ray and I. Ray was our voluntary tour guide for the day and all round fantastic bloke.This picture is not far from Ray's house in Inuyama, what a place to live! Ray paid for our entry to the local sights and museums taking pity on two backpackers. We appreciate the kindness - Ray, if you ever want a guided tour of Slough or Windsor...