The Tree

There's a 700-year old ginkgo tree in my town. Especially at this time of year, it's quite an amazing thing to behold. It's finally caught up with the rest of the deciduous fall foliage and has now turned its signature brilliant yellow. I'm not the best judge of height, but I reckon it stands the equivalent of 5-6 stories tall. During fair-weather days, when it is framed by a sky of clear, deep blue, it stands as a brilliant, yellow monolith. On days when the wind blows, it appears as though a flock of yellow birds are dancing through the air. This tree is actually not far from my house, and I walk past it every weekend on my way to the organic shop where I buy my groceries. Every year when I see it in its golden brilliance, I'm always caught off-guard, because I forget that it's this particular tree's time to change....the other trees in the mountains around Tokigawa change color 2-3 weeks before this particular ginkgo tree. This year however, I have consciously been keeping tabs on the tree, so as to soak up as much of its fall glory as possible.

Last night I was headed to the organic shop after dusk, and it was the first time this fall that I had a chance to witness it fully golden. For some reason, even though it was dark, the tree still emanated a magnificence that forced me to stop and pay respect. It was a very still evening. In the dark, calm air, it appeared not as a tree, but as a gigantic piece of yellow coral, or a giant anemone had been plucked from the sea and placed on a grassy knoll. On my way back from the organic shop, I caught sight of the upper echelons of the tree above the tree and rooftops in the foreground as I was on slight rise,.....again, as I passed next to it heading home, I found myself caught in it's gravity and had to pause again. Mother Nature is truly a wonder.

Aikido Test

Also over the weekend, I went to watch someone I know in my program (that being the program I applied to in order to come to Japan to teach English) test for his first level of black belt in aikido. His test group was interesting to watch, but after the level 1 group (which is actually the lower level of the black belt, not the top), we were able to watch the tests for level 2, 3 and 4. I've gotta say, if you ever have a chance to watch anyone test for the upper-levels of the aikido black belt, do it, especially if you like Jackie Chan, Jet Li or martial arts movies in general. It was fantastic. It's really difficult to describe, but the moves are beautifully choreographed...the attacker and the attackee both have to know exactly what to do and when they do the moves seamlessly, it's kind of like watching Brazilian capoeira. They don't just throw each other around either. From level 2 up (if I'm remembering correctly, and I'm probably not), besides the unarmed, one-on-one 'combat,' you not only defend, attack and disarm with wooden swords and spears, but also with short-length wooden knives AND you have to defend yourself against multiple attackers! THAT was incredible to watch! From level 2 up, the testers had to take down 2 assailants who already had grabbed both of your arms....one move was a simple bending back of their wrists and almost 'laying' them out on the ground in front of you. But the other move somehow intertwined their arms, making it look like you are bashing them together, and somehow they ended up in the air before landing on the ground on their backs....exactly the way we see it in Asian martial arts movies! I know that sounds like a stupid thing to say, but I guess I always assumed that there was some sort of choreography going on for martial arts movies that was done simply for the purpose of making a movie, but no....the choreography is built into the martial art itself. I never fully realized that before!

But my favorite part of the level 3 and level 4 tests was when the tester had to defend themselves against 3-4 oncoming attackers at once! Again, just like in the movies, the attackers didn't all come at one time, but kind of in a steady stream, one after another. The defender blocks and throws one attacker to the ground on one side, then does it again, to the other side, with the second attacker, and so on. The attackers bounced back up after being thrown down and came back at the defender over and over again until the test judge called time. There was one guy who tested for level 4, and he had to defend against 4 attackers at once. It was fantastic to watch! And some of the other moves he had to do to defend or disarm...he was flipping people around all over the place! There were a couple of women testing, but only one at level 3, and she was great to watch too....this peaceful looking lady with her hair braided in a circle around her head flipping these guys over her shoulder, twisting their arms so they flipped themselves in midair, defending against 3 guys rushing her at once, it was great! :-D Makes me wish the YMCA in Fort Dodge had had aikido classes instead of just karate classes when I was a kid....and that I knew better to take the classes!

Anyway, if you're curious, see if you can find black belt level test videos on YouTube. It's worth it! And just in case you're wondering, the fellow English teacher (who is a very tall, blond, Scandinavian-looking dude from Seattle...definitely stood out in the testing room!) passed his level 1, so now he's a black belt and gets to wear the special dark, flarey pants distinctive of the aikido black belts, apparently icing on the cake for him in getting to the black belt level. :-) The level 3 lady passed too, as did the level 4 guy!

OH! And one of the funniest parts about going to the test was meeting a woman from Iowa (Waterloo), who started learning aikido 37 years ago....in Iowa....came to Japan 32 years ago to study aikido IN Japan, and has been here ever since! I don't know what she's been doing the entire 32 years, but she's an aikido teacher now. And apparently she's also an avid paraglider, her favorite place being near Mt. Fuji...just a funny mental image of a late-50's female Iowan aikido instructor paragliding in front of Mt. Fuji.... Random ol' world we got here.
(^_^) \/

Side note: If you have kids and can find the classes in your area, I HIGHLY recommend signing them up for aikido! I think it's the only Japanese martial art that doesn't teach you to aggressively attack someone. It teaches you to use the attacker's power and inertia against them, and 'lock' them in a simple position using their own body chemistry against them so they can't attack you anymore. I've watched kids as young as 3 years old practicing aikido as well, and the get the biggest kick out of learning how to throw themselves all over the place on purpose without getting hurt...can't beat that!!! Plus, then, when they are ready, there are wooden swords and sticks and all that fun stuff too. :-) Not only practical (especially for girls), but fun too! And of course they have to learn discipline in order to really go anywhere in aikido, with it being a Japanese thing and all, and what parent would turn that down! ;-D

Propane Space Heaters

Over the weekend I begrudgingly made my annual pilgrimage to a local gas station to get "toyuu" for the space heaters in my apartment (which are gas-burning electric space heaters....fun fun). I don't know if "toyuu" is propane or kerosene because I never bothered to look it up in English, something I'm sure I'll be doing first thing tomorrow....

Anyway, so I went to get the toyuu, which was put into the two 18L red, plastic gas canisters I have for the occassion (standard, don't worry- they were given to me by my supervising office). After they were filled, I had them put in the trunk of "my" car (in quotes cuz the car is shared, and was given to the foreign English teachers in my town by my supervising office). Of course, one of them tips over on the way home, and of course, for some reason the screw-on lid on one side of the canister that tipped over cracked (I don't remember if it was like that before or if it happened during this incident).

Yeah, so luckily not TOO much toyuu spilled out, but it wasn't just a little either. And fun for me, the carpet in the trunk is bolted to the car frame with some sort of industrial strength plastic pins, so I couldn't remove the carpet in order to clean it (trust me, I tried, and almost lost the fingertips on one hand attempting to do it!). Funny thing was, I had to go to my supervising office after school today, and I mentioned what happened, thinking that maybe they could recommend someplace professional to take it to be cleaned, and they were completely unsurprised and actually quite nonchalant about the situation. They ended up talking more amongst themselves about the clean-up process than they seemed to be talking to me, like neighbors sharing brownie recipes or something. I get the feeling this happens quite often. "Oh yeah,.....well, soak it up with some tissues or newspapers, then open the trunk and let it evaporate naturally with the sun and air. Then use dish soap to break up the oil, and open the trunk and let it evaporate naturally with the sun and air. Then take citrus peels and put them in the trunk of the car and that will help get rid of the smell." Something like this could just as easily happen to me in the U.S., but it's just exponentially more ridiculous having it happen in a foreign country. :-)

So,...you'll be happy to hear that after doing some more cleaning and 'fresh air release,' that the car only smells like turpentine now, not like an entire gas station is being kept in the trunk. Well, on the bright side, I guess it can be said that the car won't smell like cat pee anymore (don't ask).

What I Did 4 Days After Halloween

Beautiful Minakami in Gunma Prefecture. Perfect timing at the crossroads between two seasons; snow fell all night and flurried through the morning, highlighting the peaks and crags of the Japanese Alps, illuminating the changing fall colors.


































My partners in crime, Zach and Sadaf. :-D We were supposed to go paragliding in the morning, but it was cancelled because of the weather. Luckily bungy is like the postal service...rain, snow, sleet or shine. ;-)

Just in case you were wondering what I've been up to lately.

What I Did on Halloween

8 years ago, Erik, Saori and I were roommates during our student days in Boston. 8 years later, we all met in Tokyo for shabu-shabu. Erik was swinging through on a bit of an Asian vacation tour during the Halloween weekend, and I can't think of a better way to celebrate a traditional day of fun and merriment than to catch up with old roommates.

And being in Tokyo for Halloween afforded me the opportunity to witness giant kangaroos in the Tokyo subway.