December 10-12

A flurry of activity these past few days after nearly two weeks of only routine. Saturday was one of the more memorable days I've had in Japan, though there have been many I must say. I rose early (before 4 a.m.), had a quick breakfast and then met my Japanese tutor Noriko. Together we drove to Izunuma Lake, about an hour from Naruko. In winter, a high percentage (I want to say 80%, but it isnt with much conviciton) of all the migratory birds who choose to winter over in Japan, spend the months resting at Izunuma. Every morning, precisely at dawn, about 40,000 (again, just repeating a figure but I am none too sure) wild geese ("gahn" in Japanese) take off all at once from the water with great commotion and cover the sky like a scene from Hitchcock's movie. I really can't describe the sight anymore than that, and photos absolutely wouldn't have captured it. One of those things you just have to see.

Between the dawn sky
And the white plumes of my breath
Countless geese take wing

After the wild geese had cleared, we shed a few layers, jumped back in the car and drove into Iwate-ken, the prefecture to the north of Miyagi (where I live). Near the town of Ichinoseki is one of the most famous Buddhist temples in Northern Japan, "Chusonji", which dates back to the mid 800s A.D. I was expecting just one building, but in fact it is a temple complex of about 40 structures (though many of the originals burned down some 600-700 years ago. One of the originals, Konjikido (Golden Hall), is now housed in a large glass case inside of another, newer building. The wooden temple is completely covered in gold lacquer, decorated with gold leaf and adorned with Buddha images. We more or less had the grounds to ourselves, and a light snow falling on the big cedars and pines made it all the more peaceful.


Back in Naruko, another nearby JET came over and we went to my favorite onsen / rotenburo (outdoor onsen). By now there was a good 6-8 inches of snow on the ground and it was coming down hard. The hot / cold treatment of the snow while in the bath is unbeatable.

Sunday, I spent most of the afternoon making and baking gingerbread cookies. My Japanese friend Hideko, an English tutor, came over to learn how as she is having a Christmas party for her students (I will be Santa Claus at this party).

Once a month on Monday evenings, I have an English Conversation class at the local community center. Usually about 6 or 7 "30-40 something" mothers and their 5-6 year-olds and one sweet old lady usually come to chat, though we often speak as much Japanese as we do English. Anyway, Monday night we spent the class decorating the gingerbread men. As I hadn't decorate cookies in about 10 years, I was a little nervous beforehand. Wasn't completely sure I knew what I was doing. My anxiety was absolutely unnecessary. New lesson learned: a single male need never worry about his incompetence in a kitchen filled with a half dozen women. The mothers, though amazed at my baking ability, really took over and ran the whole show, for which I was grateful. The kids, who went nuts, did almost all the decorating. Fun had by all, needless to say.



The snow has been almost daily this past week, and we've already had a several large snowfalls. I was told yesterday we won't see the ground again until spring...I am off to the slopes this weekend...