Oh wow, I am still alive. Yes, this last month has gone by at sonic speeds. The weekdays are full of school, and the weekends have been jam packed. So why not throw a whole bunch of pictures at you? Sure, sounds good to me. Enjoy....



I hate cute rabbits. Taken at the Tokyo Museam of Modern Art. So postmodern it hurts. Okay okay, I just wanted to use the word postmodern. Because I am pretencious. Moving right along...









The end of an era. I was lucky enough to catch this guy losing his bachlor card. Poor guy, I mean seriously, this girl has horrible taste in hats and he is still going for it. More power to you bro.







Note the sheer composite that this situation represents. You have an ancient temple/shrine whatever, and semi-religous relics are availible for purchase through this shrine maiden, obviously a serious, time honored tradition that has not changed for hundreds of years. Until she whiped out the Dell flat screen and fired up Windows or Linux to process my order. So much for tradition. At least she looks the part.








School Time! The festival at Koga 1st High School resulted in me going into each classroom and well.. acting like an idiot. So this of course resulted in a lot of fun. School girls love pictures on their camera phones. They took some. I took some. Everyone was happy.









More school girls. I actually took this picture a while ago, but I taught their class today. I sang the Fugees "Killing Me Softly" while they filled in the words. This is my job. They give me money to do this.











Taken at the Festival again. I was taking pictures of the randomness, and of course the girls spotted me. Obligitory school girls shot. Promise its the last one.





This dude was the acting pimp in the bar the kids set up. He basically acted like a ganster the whole time. He of course is a cool kid, so I posed with him at the crazy festival. That or he would beat me up. I ask no questions.














Okay, it's no secret that I love anime and manga. Behold Eva Volume 10 and Bersek volume 31. Bask in it's all powerful and ephermieral glow. I made up a word yes, but how can one not when faced with such powerful dorkdom. All those who covet these things, kneel before me, I am your new dork master. MUHAHAHAHA






I asked kids to write me questions. This is from one of the girls. I have no words. Enjoy.
















At least the kid is up to date on his world news.























Stole this kid's school uniform top after Judo practice, or should I call it "Young kids throwing Rick around like a bitch" practice. I think I could blend in...





This is an Udon shop right where you wait for the train. I mean, literally right where you wait for it. Not outside the station, but like, 4 feet from the train. I love it. I ate there. Good stuff.















Tsuchiura Fireworks show. Easily the greatest fireworks of my life, and I missed half the show too. It was amazing. My camera takes crappy shots, but please enjoy this.



More boom










Tokyo, Toyosu, the "Urban Dock" Super Mall. It's huge. I mean, huge. It had a cocert area, a place to a ferry, three floors and hundreds of stores. I am not sure, but I think it is one of the if not the biggest mall in the world. All hail consumerizim in it's puritanic form. All hail my inability to spell.










All hail Urban Dock. It is not even finished, and people come and buy things. I was one. Nice place though.























Inside the core of Urban Dock is a giant store of Gundam toy robots. I of course love Gundam. There was a 3 meter tall Gundam in there. I almost did not leave. I mean, I was escorted out, granted, after hugging the giant Gundam in my underware, but I mean, things happen. Moving right along...



So yes, Dinosaur Jr. is a kick ass band that recently got back together. They are pretty much rock gods, and I saw them in concert. I saw this kid with this shirt from their tour and almost acosted him. He then told me that he had no idea it was a band. Turns out fake, copied Dinosaur Jr. shirts are all the rage, I saw about 5 more the next day. I then did acoste him. Note his looking towards the floor. He is wwatching as I kick him in the nuts for disrespecting the band. Oh well. Sorry folks, put the kids to bed, I said nuts.















I have figured out why the birthrate in Japan is declining. It's easy to figure out when looking at these guys. Please analyse these young gentlemen, who are most likely High School seniors. No car, they have white matching mopeds, with helmets that compliment eachother. They have flowered licease plates. They have flowers adorn on the front of their kick ass rides. Imagine now you are a cute young Japanese girl and these guys roll up hitting on you. If you don't die from laughter I am assuming you just tell them to get lost. It all makes sense now.



So here we are at Nikko, a beautiful World Heritage site with some other JETs. We are all pretty badass if you could not tell. As you can also see, my abs have become so awesome they actually produce their own light source.



Dan and I posing in front of the most ornate gate in everdom. The other guy has a name, but I forget it. He is background boy. You know, that guy who is in your group but no one really cares about. He is there, looking confused, and of course no one cares. Which is fine. I think we may have left him there. Oh well, I'm in the picture, and that is the important thing.




A blurry picture of the largest club in Asia from the inside. The name of the place was "Ageha." It was freaking huge and we went for a Halloween party. I wasa cowboy. I danced with many a fine woman that night. Of course it was all thanks to my friends face abscuring darkness and alcohal, who have been helping me aproach women since college. Right, at least that wasn't awkward... moving right along...






Ah yes, Kyoto, a crazy trip if there ever was one. This was last weekend. This is at a temple er... Gin something or other. Very beautiul. See that kind of stripey, diagonal gray on the ground? Thats a rock garden; all that is sand that is raked everyday. Beautiful. I would hate to be the dude who has to do that though. What a crappy job. Well, I am glad he does it, he makes my pictures look great.















Why not end this with a stoic picture of yours truly? Me under a Kitsune (Fox) statue looking into the distance, obviously thinking things very important. You know like, "When the hell am I going to cut my hair? I look like a dirty hippy..."

Anyways, I hope you enjoy. If there is a place you think looked in particularly cool, let me know and I'll post more from it. This is more like a popori. Or Popouri. Or err... whatever, you can read it phonically. Thats what this is.

But seriously, things are great. Sorry I've been inconsitent, it's tough lately. I'd love to say I will post more consistantly, but this is a lie, I am still super busy. But when get time, I will through up more stuff for you. Hope you are all well.

=)

Where the heck is Rick?

So I am sure you are wondering where I have been. Well, I've been here, doing all sorts of fun stuff, but I of course have neglected to tell you about it. Sorry team. I will toss a large picture post soon. To give you a mini update, I've been to Tokyo a bunch of times now. I've been to Tsuchiura a couple times too. Classes are good, and I helped out at a festival not too long ago, which was an amazing display of what Japanese kids can do when they are motivated to do something.

This weekend I will find myself in Nikko, a very historic place here in Japan. The week after is a Halloween Party in the outskirts of Tokyo. The weekend after that I take a trip to Kyoto. So yeah, I am booked until mid-November. Crazy. I promise that I will get pictures to you filled with witty, sarcastic comments.

As for now I am pumping out some lesson plans for some students going to Australia. Situational conversation. Stuff like, "I am (tired, sleepy, scared)." etc. One of my questions is "I feel this way when I am on fire...." I suppose I am a bad person for this. But then again, if they do catch fire at some point in Australia, the student will now know how to verbalize his feelings on the subject. That is education folks, I am an educator. Granted the topic is immolation, but I feel there has been little innovation on this situation.

What else? I watched The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 3 here in Japan. That was a rather awkward experience. It's a story of how some American dude comes to Japan and beats all the people here at their own game, whilst having little regard for the culture. I have to say it was kind of interesting, and I of course love fast things on four wheels, so I had no real complains other than that.

I'm also in like 37 different clubs now. I either run, workout, train with the basketball team or try Kyudo at my main school. In my other ones I am working with the Karate, Track and Judo teams. It's a whole lot of fun, but it is very intimidating when a 16 year old boy tosses you around like a rag doll and a 17 year old girl kicks you in the face. I suppose there is a bit of humility in it. These kids are super talented though, so it's fun.

Okay, back to the lab again. Pictures to come. I hope you are all well.

Oh also, I changed the parameters on the comments, so you no longer need to be a member of blogger to leave a comment.

We Love (and Hate) Mt. Fuji

So yes, I climbed Mt. Fuji. Did you expect anything less? It truly is a right of passage for many JETs, but seriously, it was no walk in the park, no flowery path was enjoyed whilst sipping delectable honey tea. There were no crumpets involved. It was a battle involving volcanic rock, lactic acid in my quads, people curling up into balls half way up and thanks to my predecessor, chocolate power bars to fuel my hunger. I never thought Power bar could taste that good. Just wait till you are starving at 3000 meters in the air with high wind and in the dark. Chocolate Power bar suddenly becomes prime rib with a glass of red wine.

Where do I begin? I suppose station 5 would be appropriate, the launching point. About 40 of us started up the mountain a little before 7:30pm. There were so many because a couple prefectures started together. Shortly from the start we had to choose a path; the longer, easier way, or the shorter, harder way. You know me folks, you know how I roll. Hard and fast it was kids.

Here is what they don't tell you about the hard path. Or more appropriately, they should have a sign that says, "Don't try to race to the top." About an hour into the climb, it was apparent that a group of about 6 of us were at a fast pace. The one spearheading the charge was a girl by the name of Natalie. She was an animal. She was like the energizer bunny sans drums. With us also was "Tex" the alpha male Alex, Justin, Ivan and Sheris.

Every so often on the mountain there was another "station" where you could acquire food, water and a seat on a bench. Food and water were bought, but Natalie would permit little bench time. We were ahead of all of the other JETs, ad it was going to stay that way. A little bit of my competitive side was stoked by this, so I agreed. We tended to stay at each station for a handful of minutes to pound some fluids and eat something. Then it was right back up the mountain.

Most of our group made it up the mountain in about 9 or 10 hours. The average falls around there at 7 to 8 hours. Our team made the top of the mountain at 12:30am. You do the math kids, that’s about 5 hours for us. "Great," you may think, "you did it fast!" That speed was not without sacrifice though. Ivan ended up curling up into a ball at some point, unable to move. Natalie literally picked him up and dragged him to where we were at one point. We huddled together under the Tengu shrine to keep warm at the higher levels. My legs were working off will alone. My shins and calves enjoyed being scratched up by volcanic rock.

We finally made the top at 12:30, but once again we were faced with another backlash of our speed; the sun did not rise until 5:30 in the morning. That was a solid 5 hours in arctic temperatures. It was summer and there were icicles people. Our elite team of over competitive climbers ended up sleeping on the floor of a lavatory to avoid the cold and pass the time. Let me give you a tip about sleeping on the floor of a bathroom; don’t do it, it sucks. It also smells. I will not regal you with the finer details, let us leave it that I now have great sympathy for hobos.

So finally the sun begins its accent. My body is freezing and my legs are near unmovable. I was also suffering from a little bit of Altitude sickness. Basically I was in no shape to be excited about seeing the sun. On its arrival I snapped a quick shot of the fiery star with my camera phone while behind another group of eager tourists. I did not care. All I wanted to do was get down the damn mountain.

I have to admit though, for as crappy as I felt, it was one of the more beautiful things I have seen. You were literally above the clouds, so your view was that of the sun above the clouds, with cities dotting throughout. Pretty cool. I still wanted to get down though.

I ran into many fellow JETs once the sun came up. Many had just arrived; others had been there for an hour or two. Rumor of my team's incredible pace was abound, but I seriously did not care. I deviated from the speedy pack when they decided they would hike to an even higher part of the mountain. I was content with assuming the fetal position and barreling down the mountain.

Before I did my best Sonic the Hedgehog imitation, a girl named Nicole offered to walk down with me. I took her up on this suggestion. We actually ran down a good 1/3 of the mountain just so we could get some air that wasn't thinned out by lack of atmosphere. The downward decent was no cakewalk either.

After a few hours, I found myself back at station 5. I consumed a large bowl of udon and some ice-cream. I then proceeded to fall asleep in the center of the square. Once again I felt a deep connection with hobos. A few hours later brought the rest of the JETs and a bus ride home.

In the end Fuji was one crazy workout, and I am glad I did it. In hind-sight, I can barely remember the pain; the only things that remain are the good conversations and the amazing view. If you are ever in Japan and looking for some pain with a cool reward, check out Fuji. I suggest bringing warmer clothes than I did and a happier demeanor at the summit.

Enjoy the videos of the process.




Top of the Mountain




Coming Down

-R

Yup, my first of a few pictures of Japan.  This was the first one I took though, the Government Building that was like, right outside my window.  Cool times in Tokyo, I need to go back soon, I have been bad about this so far.  

I have been known to enjoy a Japanese robe or two.  


The back streets of Shinjuku.  This is me follwing some people.  Good times.


Keiichi's god damn dashboard monstrosity.  As you can see, it can play any media known to man.  


Matsuri and ladies in Yukata.  Good times in Mito.  I should really cut my hand out of this though.  Oh well.


Ah yes the Hanko...  Whos momentary loss sent me into quite a tizzy, if you still use that word.


My English Club?  Sure.  Guess who is the whitest!  Guy in blue is Justin, who hooked me up my first week or so.  Good dude.  


We will of course save upoading this series of pics when I am not at work.  


Name that video game.


Sweet lord I hated this ugly thing.  Is it just me or does it have "kick me like a football" written all over it?


White guy jumping into family photos number 2


Outside the house of Ai's mother's father's brother.  I thought it was a cool shot.  


70 year old rice paper tracing Ai's mom's ancestory.  Again, thought it was a cool pic.


On top of some huge ass castle.  While I was up here a whole bunch of snakes got released and Samuel L Jackson shot them all up.  SNAKES ON A MOTHA F#$% JAPANESE TRADITIONAL CASTLE!


The Funaki's enjoyed baseball from there... God damn it when can I get this shit in the states?


I sure hope so.  


Nams says "bury me bitch!"


You know are just trying to enjoy the beach when all of a sudden God Damn dirtbikers start jumping all over the place.  Damn it.


Sid and... er... the other girl?  Basically just a nice shot of some of the beach bomb.


I know what you are thinking.  "Rick, this is a blurry picture of shit"  Well, I contest you on this.  Think of it as whatever you want it to be.  I see it as the god damn last picture my camera took before it utterly shit itself.  

So there you have it.  Thank you Hsien for hosting those sexy things.  I will upload more if I feel they are worth it, and if I get a new camera that works.  I am assuming I should since you know, I might want to photographically document my trip across the world.  So yes, if anyone has suggestions for cameras as well, I am open.  

Thats it.  PEACE for now.

Iwaki Beach

Hello from Fukushima

Sunday fun in Fukushima. More on this later. Sorry it wasn't better.

A week in Sanwa

Well, I've been in Japan for a little over a week, and in Ibaraki now for a full week. I am sorry for the lack of updates and pictures, but it seems that I currently have no internet in my apartment. Once that is up, there will be pleanty of pictures and stories. For now you just have my words typed hastely at work.

So far things have been facinating. I find it hard to expound in words really. There have of course been ups and downs. I've been living off about $130 in Japanese money for a week since things with my bank accounts have been a little haywire. I'm down to $60. So yeah, lets hope all gets sorted soon, or I may be panhandling on the streets of Koga. Still, thats about the worst of it, and I'm fine with it.

What I really would like to post is some of the technology I've seen here. Cellphones that make American cellphones look like the large boxy beepers that were out 15 years ago. I can get a 3.1 megapixel phone with video, internet, train schedules and a whole myriad of other things for the low low price of free. This is because these phones are last years models, and it's no longer a cool phone unless it has TV on it. So yeah, that is pretty sweet. I'll have to send some old ones to Maharam's IT department to go with all the European ones that are lying around there. If you are reading this John or Sal, let me tell you, the coolest thing I have seen is my co-workers stereo. This thing takes up half the dash and plays DVDs, CDs, TV, radio, it has a memory card reader, a hard drive and a touch display screen. I think the thing came to 2000 dollars apparently. It is sick. I will post pictures of this monstrosity later.

What else? So much else. I was in a festival in Mito this weekend, dressed in a Yukata and all. A Yukata, btw, is like a summer kimono of sorts. Once again, if I get some pics of it from friends, you are all in on them. The festival, called Matsuri, was incredible. People yelling and singing on movable shrines on wheels being carted around by hundreds of people playing drums. Men and women running around in kimono. Paper lanterns and little kids abound. It was like the entire city's guard was dropped, and everyone was having a great time. Though marching for 4 hours straight did tucker me out I have to admit.

Small fun fact; the Japanese do not have any "God bless you" equilivlant for when someone sneezes. Someone sneezed, I said God bless you, and everyone stared at me like I had 5 heads. Kind of funny. I've definitly had my share of messups thus far, but it has been a very fun learning experiance.

Well, I just got done playing basketball with the guys team, and I am about to fall down. I'll give you guys more info later.

If anyone has random questions or wants me to try something while I'm here and let them know how it is, shoot me an email or leave me a comment.

Later!

Pre-emptive JET strike

Well, Saturday was the NY JET pre-departure Orientation. Lots of fun. Lots of information. I met a lot of people from my area already, which is cool. By area I mean the prefectures near me, about 5 or so of them. I was the only one from Ibaraki though. I did however meet Kawarai, who works for the Tokyo Police dept. He was a cool dude, and told me to look him up when he's back in Japan. I may take him up on it.

The little workshops they had were cool. Just good ideas on what to do and what to be careful of. It's gotten me pretty hyped for this whole thing.

Drinking was also in order post-orientation, and man can JET alums and JETs drink! Once again though, good times. I talked to the President of our JETAA, and I will see if I can do some writing for the newsletter. I think it could be fun. We'll see what happens anyway.

I received some pics of the aparto from April, my predecessor today. I'm not sure if I should post them or take my own when I get there. For that to work I need to fix my camera, which I will need to figure out how to do.

Just bought a laptop. DAMN they cost money. Who'd have thought?

Nothing else fun to report. I need to start linking and getting pictures up on this.

Soon we are off

Well, I wanted to do this, so now I am;

Ta da, Rick's Japan blog.

For those unaware of what the deal is, I was lucky enough to be accepted into the JET program and will soon be teaching/ALTing in Japan. From July 30th, 2006 to July 30th, 2007 I'll be working via the Japanese government in Ibaraki-ken. It's about 1 hour North of Tokyo by train. All sorts of exciting. I'm using this to do a couple things;

Update everyone in "Meat-space-America" as to what I am doing.

Log things in here for myself to track my progression in learning about the Japanese culture.

Post Cool Pictures of me being totally awesome, or being an idiot.

Keep in contact with you.

So yeah, there you have it. For now I'm still in prep mode, reviewing my contract, reading JET materials, etc. Sat. is the pre-departure orientation, so I'll let you know how that goes. Other than that, enjoy!

-Me