Some fun shots of Biwa...

Biwa Photos - read the blog below!

1. Heading to beautiful Biwa...high heels at the beach is the norm here. 2. Omimaiko. What a fabulous (circa seventies) gateway. 3. The pointing begins. 4. More pointing. Incidentally, nothing ever happened in or around the area everyone was pointing to. 5. Ross enjoys a beer, in the water with the boat as it searches for the body.

To tell you the truth...straight talking from Allie about the least straight talking nation.....

Hi all! Well, I'm back from Tokyo and back from summer vacation and back at work - yay (very halfhearted). Actually, heading back to work, though a little frustrating, has been fine. Everyone seems really refreshed from their break and the students have something to talk about for once. Instead of 'So Yuki, what did you do last week' followed by a long series of ums and ahs and etos and a 'Oh, nothing special', they DID do something, even just a little something and I can weasle it out of them then milk it for all its worth as a warmup. Yes, I am becoming THAT kind of person. Actually, yesterday on the train I spent quite a bit of time considering what sort of person I'm becoming from living in Japan for an extended period of time. I also spent some time venting with other teachers who I work with who have lived here for over five years. This is generally something I avoid, as people who have lived here for sometime tend to have a gigantic Japan shaped chip on their shoulder...as such, I don't discuss Japan life with anyone who has been here long enough to have said chip on shoulder...beyond 12 months seems to be the cut off. I got to the station yesterday morning extremely early for my train to line up so i could guarantee a seat. On saturday mornings I work in Kyoto, which is my longest commute, about 38 mins and standing the whole way makes Allie kinda loopy. i start to get all edgy, eyeing people off who seem to be taking up more than a fair share of thigh space, making grunting noises to wake up businessman who are (possibly pretending to be) asleep and wont shove over for me to sit down, my heart beats more rapidly as we approach stations and my eyes dart around, mentally assessing who will be getting off an if I can make it to their seat. It becomes a bit desperate. As such, I arrived early at the station and started a line. Excellent. Imagine my excitement when I manage to get a seat. Imagine my disgust when I discover this seat is opposite a very dishevelled man, lying barefoot across three seats, drinking a pepsi and burping loudly at intervals. Let me just say, this does not occur in Japan. Ever. Japanese trains are the height of tension. People being extra polite in other peoples' presence - people they would otherwise never associate with. It's often a very awkward, but interesting ride. Anyway, as i spent a great deal of time being offended and grossed out and disgusted and appalled and angry at the man opposite me and as i watched the others riding in my carriage do the same sidelong glances at the man, the same inner 'humphing' and think the same things I was thinking, I started to think about what kind of person I'm becoming in Japan. In many ways, I am becoming a much calmer person, much more laid back, more fun even. I don't stress so much nor do I have much to be stressed about, but still, generally I am more relaxed here. And yet, there are so many little niggling things here in Japan that frustrate me and stick in my mind and make me almost as passive aggressive as the Japanese (one of the things that niggles at me and sticks in my mind!) Niggling things that stick in my mind and make me passive aggressive in Japan..... -passive aggressiveness of Japanese people -technologically advanced country that still makes and watches VHS (videos) -their fascination at foreigners managing to use chopsticks, speak Japanese or eat raw fish -archaic thinking: women quit work after they're married, men and women used to have arranged marriages; now they meet thru 'match up parties', there is no public method for animal rescue here and worse still, no method for child adoption in place in Japan (they're even trialling a 'drop box' in a Tokyo hospital at the moment, where people can 'drop' their illegitimate and unwanted newborns so they don't do the more common alternative, drop them off in a remote mountain area and walk away) -fear of everything: beaches, thunderstorms, lightning, UV rays, never getting married, American beef, the Australian sunshine, America as a whole (its all so dangerous, but they sell fireworks to children at the convenience store) Sometimes it feels like I'm back in time! Often I find myself thinking, this place always seems about fifty years behind the western world...and it makes me the kind of person who, even though I love living here and challenging myself with the language and the way of life and so on, I stil find myself becoming passive aggressive about the way people lead their lives here. This thinking has only been reinforced by an experience on Monday when we headed to Omimaiko beach on Lake Biwa with some friends. All in all, we had a great day - met some cool people, swam in the lake, got some sun.....watched a dead body as it was pulled out of the water. Yes folsks, you read it right. To be honest, there's not much I feel I can say about the experience, except that I came away from it really puzzled again at the way it was dealt with, and I guess the unfortunate thing is that my friends and I had to reach a point in the thinking where we shrugged and said 'It's Japan'. Here's the story: My friend Sam and I were sitting on the beach chatting while everyone else swam and drank beer and so on. We watched as a big boat pulled up and into the roped off swimming area, and we wondered to each other 'Why is a big boat allowed to sit there in the swimming area like that'...I believe the answer we may have come up with was 'It's so Japan'. The boat sat there for quite awhile with no action then a man in a security uniform...may have been police but I'm not sure came down on to the beach. We thought, Oh, he must be telling him to go away finally. Nice. What then follwed was what can only be described as 'mass pointing'. The security guy pointing, the boat people pointing, then other people coming up to the security guy, speaking, then pointing. Then the security guy approaching various groups on the beach and pointing, then Sam and I making stupid jokes and pointing: 'The UV is weaker over there (point)", 'The sand is softer over there (point)' 'Everyone's parking their boats in the swimming area over there (point)'. At this point, (no pun intended) all seemed quite funny, just another example of clumsy Japanese law enforcement. I don't recall when I said to Sam 'Maybe there's a dead body' but I know we thought it funny, because from all accounts of what was being done on the beach, there was no emergency or even any bad situation apparent. No one was moved out of the water, there was no evacuation, nothing. This went on for a long time; long enough for our friends to come in and out of the water a few times, for a crowd to gather, for several teams of colour coded divers to arrive on the scene, for Ross to grab a beer and head back into the water! After ages, it was someone's bright idea to rope off a section of the beach (at which point they didn't think to tell people to leave the roped off section so we all sort of stayed seated, either in or out of the roped section. They brought a big orange sheet of plastic and a stretcher onto the shore, set up a whiteboard and a desk (which they then put away soon after...perhaps just a formality?) then eventually they pulled the body from the water, gathered the orange plastic and carried him up the beach. I didn't look but others did. And the frightening thing was that for a time he was in full view of everyone, including the children, still playing in the water. Weird. 'So Japan.' OK, so a not so merry but still important post! And I promise to post a newsy one about summer vacation and Tokyo and my birthday and so so very soon. Much love to all of you.