Atsuhime (篤姫)

Frequently on Japanese television, there are period dramas which tell the stories of people in Japanese history.

One of those programs that's been running since before I arrived here in Kagoshima is Atsuhime.

The show was playing in the background as I was engaged with something on the computer, but I realized then that I wanted to remember the Atsuhime drama because I consider it to be part of the times now for me.

The story of Atsuhime and the fact that her story is now being aired on national television is something very special to the people here in Kagoshima prefecture. That is because Atsuhime was originally from Satsuma (former name of Kagoshima).

During the time it takes place, the clan ruling the Satsuma area was very strong unlike other clans located closer to the shogunate that were kept weaker in order to keep the shogunate in power. Satsuma was too far away to control as much as other areas. Naturally, one would conclude that this was a proud time for Kagoshima.

I'm having trouble feeling like I can explain this further very well, so here's the wikipedia article on the show.

For me, personally, I find the show a little hard to follow because of how quickly the characters speak and the heavy dose of polite language (keigo) that they use. Not to mention the fact that I haven't really took the time to watch each and every episode as it airs.

But it is something that the people here seem to take pride in and I think that's great.

Sometimes, though, I watch just the theme song sequence at the beginning because not only is the song absolutely beautiful, but also the images they choose to go along with the song.

Here's a YouTube video.



When I went with Aya, Jenny, and Kathryn to a big fireworks show in Kagoshima city, they put off fireworks to this song. It was really, truly amazing.

While I can't call myself a fan, I wrote this blog because it is something I want to remember when I am thinking about when my time living here in Japan had just begun.

Almost 2 months

September is almost over. The beginning of October will mark two months since I came to Japan this year. The longest amount of time I`ve previous spent in Japan is about to be doubled. And then after that, a lot more time to come.

Things are still going pretty well.

The typhoon I mentioned in my last post ended up being demoted to Severe Tropical storm, but the news still referred to it as a typhoon, so that was kind of confusing. Either way, the storm veered to the East as it was hitting Kyushu, so although the Eastern half of Kagoshima was hit -pretty- bad, the skies were pretty clear on the Western side where I am.

To tell the truth, it was kind of disappointing, because I wanted to have a fun story I could tell people about me waiting out the storm, all alone in my apartment.

But there will be other typhoons.

Last week on Tuesday, I began to have ear pain. I stopped ignoring it in favor of work on Friday and went to the hospital (regular doctor appointments take place in the hospital here) on Saturday. I thought it was an ear infection, but the Ears, Nose, and Throat Doctor I visited on Monday said it was a viral infection in my nose and throat. This made sense because my throat was bothering me as well.

The other night, I woke up in the middle of the night because my ear was really hurting, but actually that was the last I had of substantial pain from. The next day (yesterday), my ear rather felt like it was underwater. Today is just feels kind of funny.

I realized that I like going to the doctors in Japan. It`s a fun challenge to try to communicate health things in Japanese, especially since medical words are often so similar. I hope the doctors appreciated the challenge too. Maybe they wished I brought someone fluent to help translate.

For me, though, I don`t like to bring translators to places because that just means that they can talk super fast as though I am not there. And often, since I`ve gotten here, I`ve felt like my "translators" were not able to explain things much better and often they`d rather make decisions for me instead of trying to help me understand. I much prefer to put out the effort and go without a translator.

I should be getting internet in my apartment as soon as this weekend, so hopefully I can set a certain day of the week when I was post here and the posts will be more structured and thought out.

Sports Day and typhoons

So I went to my first school Sports Festival at one of my middle schools on Sunday. Probably due to the timing of my first visit to the school, I didn`t get to participate. Actually, it turned out no one quite knew I was even attending.

It was still a lot of fun. Probably the event that was the most fun to watch was the relay races. One especially fast or slow person can change the outcome of the race so much. It was fun when two teams were neck to the neck during the whole duration. But, on the other hand, I felt sorry for the team that was lapped.

I definitely don`t consider myself to be very athletic, but I really do want to participate in a Sports Day event next year.

Although if the event occurs in the rain as it did this time, I might consider taking that back (although I probably won`t).

There`s a typhoon coming, so we`ve been getting A LOT of rain lately. I don`t really QUITE understand how big it is and what it could mean for me, but I`m looking into it whenever I have the chance. We did have a typhoon since I`ve arrived here and I`ve been in the edges of typhoons before, but something seems different this time. Anyway, it should be arriving around Wed/Thurs and everything should be fine. :)

Lately, I`ve been getting a little tired of eating rice and noodles so much. So, the other night, I bought bratwurst, hot dog buns, mustard, and beans and had a very not-Japanese dinner. It was nice and it felt really good to show myself that I really do have a lot of options of what to eat here even though sometimes it doesn`t seem like it.

I still have no internet at my apartment, but I`ll get to the bottom of it.

"First blog"

Because I am using my own laptop at a computer lab, I can finally post the REAL first post that's been sitting, waiting patiently on my desktop in a word document for a month now.

Wow, I can believe it's been a month since I got here.

Before I paste the blog, some news-

-As you might have noticed, I finally was able to fix the template. Let me know how it looks on your respective browsers.
-I was also finally able to upload the pictures I've taken so far on my camera. If you look at the top of the new template, there is a "pictures" link that should take you to my facebook album. When that album fills, I will start a new one and give it the name "pictures 2"- no worries, it will be user friendly. ;)

So here's the first blog, it's not super great or anything, though---

Written first night in Hioki City, Kagoshima Prefecture- August 6th, 2008 at 8:54 pm.

So I’m sitting here in the living area of the apartment that I moved into today. It wasn’t quite what I had imagined from looking at pictures, but nonetheless, it’s a really great place.

The Tokyo Orientation days (we arrived on the 3rd) were very hectic and busy. Also, I didn’t find those particular days to be “Japanese” seeing as how we had very little time to physically leave the hotel.

I did, however, get chances to meet my host family on the first night and Tokyo friends on the second (Macha, Nori, Ai, Ryoichi, Yukihiro).

On the way to Kagoshima, I was very excited about living in this prefecture that I’ve liked so much for such a long time. All of the way to the office I was sooo happy.

At one point, I looked into a miror in a bathroom and realized I had a really, truly happy face.

Then we went to the apartment.

I stepped into the door with the two people from the office who were helping me and suddenly it sunk in that I am going to be living here. On top of all that, I am going to be living here alone. This thought really got me anxious and upset.

On top of that, I don’t internet here yet, so I felt very isolated from everyone that I once counted on.

I called Aya- that made me feel better, but she was busy with driving school at the moment.

I went out to dinner with one of the ALTs of the city who came with me (he’s British) and a CIR (she’s Korean.) I felt better after getting out and hanging out a little.

After I got back I began listening to some music on my iPod and realized that my entire taste in music changed in this transition. It seems that I’ve been unconciously collecting songs with “you can do it,” “count on others,” “be easy on yourself” etc. messages to them during the past few months. Then I started to view this apartment as a series of puzzles as I figured out other parts of settling down. I think my mood is quite a bit different now.

Anyway, I feel like I’m about to pass out, so I am going to start heading towards bed. I have to get to the office tomorrow morning at 8:30.

Eww… it’s going to be hot once I turn off the air cooler in this place.

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Funny enough, my taste in music switched back to how it was before since then. :)

Cars, bugs, and phones

I`ll make this quick because I have to leave to go to one of my schools, Ijuin Kita Elementary School, very soon. It`s my first day of the job I came here to do.

I`m excited, but also very nervous.

I did end up buying a car on that day and I have a cell phone now, too.

Things are finally coming together.

I can`t wait until I can finally get internet at my apartment, though.

In other news, I saw a really huge bug.

And, from the looks of it, I will see this huge bug when I go home today as well.

The reason for this is because it seems to be living happily in the elevator doorway.

The bug, including it`s huge wing span, is about as wide as my hand.

I took pictures, but sadly they`re on my regular camera. I won`t be able to share those pics for a while longer.

I could, however, try to get a cell picture of it.

I was really startled when I first saw it. And I`ve been taking the stairs a lot more.

In the meantime, here`s a cell pic of my car.


Gotta go!