Very Famous!

Hisashiburi!

Keeping with Japanese culture, I must start this lil' missive with an apology. I've neglected my duty to keep those interested parties abreast of goings on and what not.

Where to start? (Again, going J-style here; WEATHER!) It's finally started to cool down here. Twas another sweltering summer. It's been a bit trickier this year. My apartment doesn't have the anonymity of Chichibu ergo, um, i can't be as naked as i was last summer.

Omagari is still boring (but hey, the rice is "delicious" and "famous"). This is awesome, Omagari has the biggest fireworks competition in Japan. Nothing gets your average Japanese family excited quite like sparkley things, so you can imagine this was a big draw. On average 700,000 people come to watch.
I was fortunate enough to watch them from the front row as it were. And they were awesome. Not worth living in Omagari for 9 months awesome, awesome all the same. This town is so boring that everyone leaves IMMEDIATELY after the show. Chichibu Night festival, people are out till 5:00 AM; Omagari first train out. I'm almost sure the kanji for Omagari translates to "Watching" and "Paint Dry".

So on things more interesting, 80% of my family came for a visit this past May. Ma, Pa and the sisters. The Halversons did Japan. I think they had a good time. I know I did. What's more, I learned so much about Japan, specifically Akita prefecture.
I wasn't able to get the time off, so a couple of my students were gracious enough to take my folks around. They soon discovered EVERYTHING in Akita is famous. They took a "very famous" train to some "very famous" places. They rode in my student's "very famous" car to a "very famous" agriculture museum where they learned about "very famous" rice.
It was a bit of the "very famous" boy who "very famously" cried wolf. On the way to a practice tea ceremony, they were invited into the home of an elderly Japanese man. He showed them his samurai sword and matching dagger. Of course the students were very excited that my family had a "very famous" Japanese man.
Turns out, he actually IS famous. Kazuo Koike. Author of Lonewolf and Cub as well as Lady Snowblade. It be like taking a foreign guest to Starbuck's and having John Grisham invite you all into his house to show off his gun collection.
When Rome do as the Vandals did.
So Dad and Heather decided they wanted authentic sushi, (and being as it was in Akita, i'm sure it was "very famous"). So we went to a kieten sushi place. Before we went in, i explained how it worked and warned them about natto. {A kieten sushi is a restaurant that has a conveyor belt with little sushi plates on it. Each plate has a price attached to the color. Natto is fermented soy beans. It smells and tastes like toe jam. Japanese people eat it because they're told it's delicious in primary school.}

Matthew : O.k. So if you see something that looks like chunky peanut, DO NOT touch it!
Dad: O.k.
Heather: O.k.

Five minutes later...
H: Is this that natto?
M: Yeah.
H: Oh, o.k. (Plate goes by)
D: What's this? (reaches for the plate)
M: Natto. Don't touch it.
D: Oh.
Two seconds later...Dad reaching for a second plate of natto.
M: Dad, that's natto! Don't touch it!
Lather. Rinse. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.
Fortunately, Heather and I were able to save the ol' Padre from defiling his mouth with Japan's cruelest culinary joke.

And of course we had to do karaoke. Good times. I had to kick things off, but Heather and Sara were up singing and dancing in no time. Eventually, the Pater Familias figured out how to work the remote and we ended up with all kinds of random songs. Including Sunrise, Sunset from Fiddler on the Roof. Neither of the girls were too keen so they thrust the mic into the less than expectant hands of Mom.
Turns out, she has pipes. We were shocked to find Mommy dearest has a great voice. It was a little weird singing the Tevya to my mother's Golde. However, if you ever have the chance to do a duet with your mom (or mine) you won't soon forget it.

So in conclusion: Akita VERY FAMOUS. Natto disgusting. Karaoke fun.

As far as plans for the future go, I'm looking at moving to Chiba sometime next year. There is an actual school that's hiring. It would mean better breaks and pay. Additionally, Chiba offers more to do; not that i don't love watching rice grow.