My own personal track.

Several kilometers from my apartment on a narrow, windy and climbing road, lies an emerald green lake in the crater of an old volcano. It bears the name Katanuma, literally "lagoon swamp". A sign claims it to have one of the lowest PH levels of any lake in the world. There are no fish, and I've been warned by a number of people not to swim in it. Its certainly beautiful, but until recently, I had dismissed it as merely a place to take visitors to Naruko for a quick stroll.

During one of these walks last week, I realized the place is a perfect, natural track. A single lane dirt road circles the lake, about half of which runs through the forest. The sign states the lake is 1.3km in circumference, or a couple tenths short of a mile. There are a few buildings in sight, including a snack shop/ boathouse that's open on the weekends, but I rarely see many people there. Sulfurous steam sputters from several earth blowholes around the lake, signs of the geothermal actvity happening beneath. Legend holds that a female dragon god (Ryujin) owns the lake, and if you take children there on the Festival of Dolls (March 3), she will snatch them into the lake.

I have never been much of a runner--I usually get bored after about a mile. Man-made tracks are too monotonous and I could always find plenty of excuses (congested roads, hills, dogs, people, in the middle of a good book, etc) to not run other places. But Lagoon Swamp leaves me no excuse. Its beautiful, its quiet, its more or less flat, its convenient, I almost always have it to myself, and the whole time I am running, I can help but thinking "Who else in the world right now is running circles around a dragon in the crater of a volcano?"

Hooked on Phonics

This likely won't be nearly as humorous to you as it was to me, but I thought it was blog-worthy, especially as I haven't posted anything in many days.

We have been introducing some phonics to the 7th graders recently, working on a few letters at a time at the beginning of class. I say a letter, the sound it makes (with exaggeration), a couple example words, and have the students repeat everything. The target sentence goes something like this: "M says muh, muh moon."

Today, the students were finishing up their cleaning duties in the teacher office when three 7th-grade boys got my attention. Adapting phonics to Japanese, and excusing themselves properly from the room as they left, they said loudly "Mr. Michael, S says ssssssss, sssssssss, shitsurei shimashita!"

Chit chat with a hard hat...

It is so rare when a stranger strikes up a conversation with me in Japan, that it always catches me off guard. The grand majority are certainly polite and kind, but its not often you bump into outgoing, warm folks.

Today as I was leaving school, a older fellow working on the contruction team at my new school stopped me to say hello and chat. The only contact we had had before was an exchange of bows yesterday as he directed me around the pavers and dumptrucks and out of the parking lot. Today, with a big grin on his face, he asked me if classes were over for the day, where I was headed, where I was from, and complimented me on my Japanese. We then parried back and forth the usual "no my Japanese is not good/yes its excellent/no really its quite poor/I assure you, you speak quite well" routine that is the norm here when someone compliments you, until he finally said "well my Japanese is quite poor as well, it is too difficult even for Japanese people".

That put a big smile on my face and he went back to his duties of directing traffic.

A week of gold

Sunday marked the end of a 5-day long break, commonly known as Golden Week. Many people are off work and schools don't hold classes, but many teachers and students have to spend much of their "holiday" with their respective school clubs. Not belonging to any club, and with the arrival of some spring weather (finally), I decided to get outside as much as possible.

On Wednesday, another JET friend (Mark) and I took off early for Fukushima, one prefecture south of Miyagi. Spent two great days car camping and exploring around Mt. Bandai and the surrounding lakes. Lots of short hikes, outdoor onsens in the afternoon, cooking over campfires and hot lemon whiskeys to keep the chill off at night. Had a beautiful walk through Goshikinuma (or the Five Colored Swamps), though the crowds took away from its beauty. Mark put it best when he said "It feels like we are walking in a queue". Japan is a spectacular place to car camp--it seems you are always close to convenience. We managed to find nice camp spots away from the crowds of campgrounds, but we were never far from a spa, a 7-11, a home center (like a mini-Lowes) for last minute supplies, or the first Denny's I have seen in Japan (no Grand Slams, but delicious nonetheless).

Saturday I got up at dawn for 18 holes of golf at my local course. The clubhouse manager wanted to know where I had been all spring and that many members had been requesting to play with me. Not sure if they remember how poorly I play, but its nice to know I was missed over the winter...

Saturday afternoon I hosted a pot-luck BBQ by the river in Naruko with some other JETs, Japanese friends, and Japanese friends of friends. Seemingly endless food and fun that lasted well into the night.

Sunday I capped off the wonderful holiday with seven hours of flyfishing with new friend Takashi-san. He was actually more like my personal fishing guide (who happens to speak English quite well), taking me to his favorite spots on his home rivers, giving me tips, and taking care of my line and flies all day-long. Though the conditions were not great for flyfishing, he was determined to get me a fish. Late in the afternoon when my arm was getting heavy from so much casting, he kept pushing me along saying "patience, patience, maybe you can catch one just ahead". Never guarunteeing, but always giving just enough hope. In the end I failed to hook a fish, but had an incredible day anyway. We had many jokes about the Yamame (Japanese Brook trout, or literally "mountain lady") being shy of the big American. Felt great to be on new water, especially with such a fun and experienced fisherman.

Between all my outdoor leisures, I also managed to squeeze in the first season of "Lost" ( a friend lent me the DVDs). I had only seen one episode before, but I am now completely hooked. Hopefully I can space out seasons 2 and 3, but I doubt it--they are too good.

...the question discussed...

My brother's comment on my "I pose a question" post of last week generated some email discussion, as it was intended to do. I thought I should clarify my point and intention of the post.

I realize that the "sermon" in question is an extreme
example, and obviously does not represent the opinion
of the average American. I agree also that it is far
from the most disturbing thing on the internet. But,
growing up where we did in the Bible Belt, with weekly
"Fire and Brimstone" sermons like this one on AM radio
and in churches some few miles from home, I can't help
but think there are more than just a few folks who
hold similar views across the US and abroad. Of course, as my brother reminded me, the VAST majority of Christians we knew growing up were sound, kind people (even the narrow-minded ones).

My point was not to pick on the Christian sect or the
US ( for surely there are folk like this of every
religion and in every country), but to highlight an instance of the
ignorance and the intolerance that religious
fanaticism breeds (throughout the world).

My brother countered that my level of concern was perhaps exaggerated, as this is far from the most threatening or dangerous of the religious extremists existing in the world. I quote: "Rednecks who think chinese people talk funny and think Dubya is the best thing since Jesus are not really a viable threat to the well being of, well, anyone". Point taken, and yet, the fact that there are those harboring such ignorant and racist views remains quite apalling to me.

I came across the sermon while trying to answer/Google-ing a question from a Japanese teacher about how the bible explains the different languages of the world (being unable to answer it myself). Though it was not what I was looking for, I found the website interesting/disturbing enough to share with my readers. Your thoughts?