I spent yesterday cutting the trees in front of NEO. It was a lot more work than I imagined. It took me all day and I still had some cleaning up to do this morning.
Dave-sensei was on "Let's Enjoy English!" on Radio MOMO (79.0 FM) on Thursday. Dave and D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu talked about birthdays in Japan and America. Click the button below to listen.
Last month passed by so quickly I hardly realized it, but January 9 was my ten-year anniversary in Japan. When I came to Okayama in 2009, I only intended to stay for a year or two. But I quickly found that I had good friends, a job that I enjoyed, and lots of opportunities to travel. So here I still am, a decade later! Here are a few memories from that first year.
Dave-sensei will be on Radio MOMO (79.0FM) with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu on Thursday February 28th at about 5:40 pm. They will talk in English and Japanese about birthdays in Japan and America.
2月28日（木）5時40分ごろにDave先生がRadio MOMO (79.0FM) に出演します（DJは上別府千晶さん）。英語と日本語の両方で誕生日について話します。
以前からですが、最近講師Halがぽつんと言ったセリフを聞き、そうだそうだと思いだしてブログに書いておこうとおもいました。英語歴の短い方やNEO歴の短い方へ。
NEOのトイレのドアはvacant（入っていないとき）もわざとぴっちりドアは閉めてありません。なぜなら少なくとも北米ではトイレ（bathroom）のドアは、そこを使用中のときだけ閉めるもので、ドアを開ける＝誰も使っていない、という意思表示です。その上、バス、トイレが独立しておらず、同じ空間なのでなおさらです。
「なんで日本じゃトイレのドアをみんな開けておかないんだ？」のHalのつぶやきに、私もいい返事が見つかりませんでした。「トイレを見られたくないからかな」という以外にいい理由が分からないのです。
日本のトイレのドアは上部に明り取りの小窓があって、中の電気が点いているかどうかがわかるようになっています。が、諸外国のトイレはそんな気は利かせてくれてやしません。
なので日本で生活しているネイティブ講師たちもつい「トイレのドアは使用後は開けておく」ようにしたいのです。彼らの本音は「開けっ放しにしておきたい」。それをぐっと堪え、ほんの少し開けておく。でもピッチリとは閉めていない。ここがポイント。最後の抵抗といったところでしょう。
なのでNEOではトイレのドアがぴっちりと閉じてあったら「ああ日本人のどなたかが最後に使ったんだな」とわかります。私もすっかりこれに慣れてしまい、NEOのトイレのドアは半開き。自宅も半開き。同じことを実家でもしてしまうのできっと嫌われていることでしょう。皆さんのご自宅ではどうですか？
余談ですが、画像のようにドアの裏にあるフックにバスローブもよく掛かっています。シャワー後のびしょぬれの体を包みますが、これをしっかり広げていなくても次の日には乾いているものです。日本だったらすぐカビるぜ…と思わずにはいられません。
I went out to the Hadaka Matsuri, also known as the Naked Man Festival last night with Nick-sensei and Tatsuki and Satoshi. Over 500 years old, this festival takes place during the coldest time of the year.
Teams parading around the shrine grounds.
Men wear just a loin cloth and thin cloth foot covers. It is a competitive festival, the aim being to grab a sacred stick thrown into the crowd of participants at 10pm. Some decoys are also thrown, so there are multiple scuffles happening for about 10 minutes until the winner turns in the real stick.
Usually teams of friends or co-workers join after getting really drunk. The teams parade around the shrine grounds three times, each time running through a waist high fountain of freezing water. Then hundreds of participants crowd the front of the shrine jostling for position until the lights cut out and the sticks are thrown in the dark.
Fireworks over the river. It is fun to see fireworks in the winter.
I have joined twice in the past, but this year I took the boys out to see it for the first time. We got there just in time for the fireworks show (a rare thing in winter), ate some good festival food and were in time to mill around the front of the shrine while the teams were parading through. That is where most of my pictures were taken.
Nick and I got interviewed by RSK tv, but I have no idea if anything aired or not. We found our favorite Turkish kabob stand and ran into a few NEO students.
We left before nine, but watched the dropping of the stick live on YouTube, which was a new experience.
Ambulances for the people who get injured. Sometimes people die in this festival.
Dave-sensei getting interviewed by RSK.
We ran into some NEO students. Their family lives nearby.
We watched the final part of the festival live on YouTube. It was much warmer at home!