Thursday, January 28, 2016

New Year's Omikuji (2015 vs. 2016)


Every year, when New Year's day rolls around, some of my coworkers and I get to skip work for an hour (shhh!) to pray at the shrine for a good New Year's blessing. Since I'm now a seasoned veteran of this tradition (two years running, baby), I thought I could have a little retrospective of my New Year's shrine photos. Ready to time warp with me?

First, we have the lovely 2015 experience where I have shortish blonde hair and a blue bow. Haruka and Takashi (pictured below) taught me the proper way to wash my hands, clap and bow to get the best possible blessings for a good year. 

We also took a fortune (omikuji) from a little box to see how our year would turn out. Haruka, Takashi and I all pulled bad ones, so we threw them into a flaming pit. It was great! 


The flaming pit where bad fortunes go...
Afterwards, I ate a giant grilled squid. I remember it being pretty so-so, it was covered in some sort of soy sauce glaze. Classic Japanese festival fare!

Grilled Squid and I: The Chewy Saga
Fast forward to 2016 shrine visit, which was just as much fun. As we walked up the long steps to reach the shrine for prayer time, we ran into several of my tiniest students. They all screamed "hello how are you?" and Haruka remarked that in Kadogawa I am now a very famous person. 


This year, when we pulled our fortunes, I actually received the best one you can get-- daikichi, which basically means "best luck." I felt pretty excited about it. 

2016 Omikuji Fortune Selfie (featuring a devastated Takashi)
Haruka received chuukichi, sort of like a "medium luck," while Takashi was stuck with kichi. Just "regular luck." They were both very disappointed, so we cheered ourselves up with a fish shaped snack called taiyaki.

The festival food stands outside the shrine
Taiyaki-- the folks in my office love the chocolate flavored one.
Always a good time at the shrine. Here's hoping my 2016 is as good as my fortune predicted! 

And let's hope that Haruka and Takashi's 2016 is much better than their fortunes predicted... "Regular luck" might as well be no luck at all. Poor, poor Takashi.

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

A Snowy Day in Fukuoka


Something I never thought winter would mean for me is snow-- Kyushu is known for warm weather and a subtropical climate. 

Think of palm trees and beaches. Now think of them covered in snow. It's weird, right?

So when I visited Alex in Fukuoka this weekend and we woke up to a snow-y White Christmas wonderland, I was shocked and delighted. I've never lived in a place where it snows regularly. In fact, I've never lived in a place where it snows at all.

We bundled up and ventured out into the cold. There was supposed to be a little antiques market happening, but with so much snow and wind everyone closed down their shops early. We ended up going out for Sri Lankan food and visiting an arcade. 

Still, it was fun to hop around with snowflakes falling. I made a snow angel, my feet went numb, and my bus back to Miyazaki was cancelled.

Perfect snow day.


 



(Photo credit goes to Alex because my phone was dead-- Thank you!)

Monday, January 25, 2016

Lauren Loves Nap Cafe



Something I think that small town rural Japan does right is tiny cafes.

One such amazing tiny cafe is Nap Cafe, located in Hyuga, a fairly small city in Miyazaki Prefecture. It became a fixture of my diet here when I first moved to Kadogawa town, at the recommendation of some other ALTs who had been living in the area for a few years.

I can't get enough of their bagel sandwiches and their fancy, fancy coffee drinks. The amazing owner speaks English and chats shyly with me about his friend who plays ukulele and his trips to New York City. Whenever I go, I fall in love with the place all over again.

For about two (three?) months, Nap Cafe was closed while they moved to a new smaller location. I think the owner and his wife also had a new baby, so I understand they had to take time for themselves.

But no Nap Cafe? It was torture. I had to get my coffee fix from my other favorite cute cafes in town. 

Sometimes, I even had to make coffee at home. The agony!

Luckily, I didn't have to make my own coffee for too long, because Nap Cafe just opened back up. I finally had the caramel macchiato and bagel sandwich I had dreaming of for so long. Do you know how hard it is to find a bagel in rural Japan? It's not easy. And these bagels are delicious.

It was better than I had remembered. Fermented carrots and all.

Caramel Macchiato

Vegetable Bagel and Salad Plate -- complete with fermented vegetables!

The adorable/rustic bar complete with delectable scones
Lindsay is glad to be at Nap Cafe
Oh Nap Cafe! I love you so! Thank you for supplying this hungry American with bagels and delectable caramel macchiatos for so long!

Forever grateful,
Lauren Kincaid-Filbey

Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Danjiri Festival: Action, Adventure and Beer



To say that Kadogawa town isn’t well known, even in Miyazaki, would be stating the obvious. When I mention Kadogawa town in conversation, the most I get out of people is usually a plucky, “Oh, I’ve heard that you have very delicious fish.” 

We do have delicious fish. Kadogawa is a fishing town.

Yet, somehow, this little town always manages to surprise and delight me. We have a summer fireworks show that is on point, a foreign imports grocery store that is absolutely gorgeous and completely overpriced, huge green mountains and two (not one, TWO) clear, clean rivers running across the land. 

Despite all that, one of the best parts of living in Kadogawa, at least for me personally, is the Danjiri Festival. 

I know what you’re thinking. Another festival? Give me a break! Japan does loads of festivals! Everyone and their mother has a so-called “special” festival. I’ve heard there’s even a festival of male genitalia! There is, I saw it, look it up

And that’s true, but Kadogawa’s Danjiri Festival is even better than that. If you like sports for the action, if you like American Television Program “Game of Thrones” for the edge of your seat thrills, you better brace yourself because Danjiri has all those things and more.

The Danjiri Festival is celebrated in November every year, by building three portable shrines, each in different color schemes (green, white and blue) that represent different parts of town. Several men of all ages sign up to represent their area, either by carrying the shrine itself, or by standing on top of the shrine playing taiko drums and leading encouraging chants. 

On the day of the festival itself, the men show up in traditional garb (chests exposed for ultimate cool guy power) and carry this giant portable shrine around our town. 

If this doesn’t sound awesome, let me paint a picture for you. Kadogawa men carry a shrine with their drumming, chanting friends on top from 5am until approximately 2 in the afternoon. All while drinking copious amounts of Kirin pale lager. 

These guys are tough! When I drink copious amounts of beer, I can’t even carry my own house key, which is why my landlord has had to come unlock the door for me. Twice.

She’s a wonderful, kind person.

Now, imagine, you’re a drunk man who has been carrying this heavy shrine around with your buddies for nine hours. You’re probably completely exhausted. You’re probably in need of another beer. Now imagine, after all this toil, you are told that you must hold the shrine up over your head as high as you can lift it, and keep it there, as steady as a rock, without faltering, for a good twenty minutes. You must do this with everyone in your town, including your family, watching you.

That is the Danjiri Festival! Crazy, right? It is the truest challenge of holding something heavy and  at the same time holding your liquor that I’ve ever seen.

At this year’s Danjiri, not even five minutes after the drums started to beat, disaster struck. I watched in horror as the white team’s shrine slowly sunk down to the ground, and wobbled in defeat. To give them some credit, they kept trying to hoist the thing back up above their heads, but at that point, they were already too far gone. White team was the first casualty in the war that is Danjiri.

Then, it was the blue team. Like a great blue whale, the shrine sunk slowly down into the sea of drunk, sweaty men. All the while, they kept trying, pushing it and pushing it, hoping to keep their team afloat. But alas, they could not keep the gigantic thing steady.

The crowd and I screamed at them, clapping and singing along with their chants, hoping to give them the strength to get back into the game. I was thrilled. Honestly, watching the teams fail is the most fun part of the Danjiri. It’s the same sort of thrill you get from watching a lion tear apart a gazelle on the Discovery Channel.

But in the back of the arena, the green team’s shrine stood tall and steady. The green team never faltered, not even once. Like a lizard sunning itself on a rock, amidst the carnage of the fallen teams beside them, their shrine stayed perfectly still. So still, I almost forgot they were there, as I was shrieking “ganbatte” at the losing teams beside them.

The green team, of course, was the champion team of Danjiri. I hope they went home with a special prize. 

I can’t say for sure, because immediately after the shrines were lowered to the ground, my friends and I headed to the snack booth where I bought hot fries and a Fanta grape. I wondered aloud how the green team could be so rock steady, when their competitors could barely even hold up their shrines!

The next day, I got my answer. I had a chance to chat with one of my Japanese teacher friends who had also attended the festival. I asked her what she had thought of the competition this year, and with a guilty look around the teacher’s room, she told me the secret.

The reason that the green team outperformed the other teams by such a large margin was that the green team was composed of mostly high school students. High school students can’t drink!

I was shocked! But I suppose I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Anything was possible. 

This was a true battle of strength, skill and holding something above your head for a really long time.

This was Kadogawa Danjiri.

 

Monday, January 18, 2016

A Fukuoka Mosey



My boyfriend, Alex, is another English teacher working here on Kyushu. He lives in Fukuoka, the biggest city on this island. It's about five hours away from Kadogawa by bus.

Ugh. It sucks, but we make it fun.

Before I flew out of Fukuoka airport to go back to California for a few weeks, Alex and I had a chance to hang around the city for an afternoon. We explored some neat little temples and shrines hidden between skyscrapers and shopping malls.

I enjoy finding these little spaces of serenity between the hustle and bustle of it all.





          

Thursday, January 14, 2016

A Very California Christmas (And Some Big News)



After feeling all the bummed out feelings spending the holidays abroad last year, I decided to go back to California for my winter vacation.

Part of me felt like I was selling out or something, considering that I am a tireless adventurer committed to seeing the world. A bigger part of me wanted to cuddle with my dog.

So back to Huntington Beach I went. Honestly, I think it was the best decision I had made in a long time. It was great to see my family, my parents, old friends. It was weird to see how much my hometown had changed in the six years I had spent living in other places. I ate tacos, I went running with my dog, I drank egg nog with my cousins.

By the time I had to leave, I really wasn't ready to go. Two weeks wasn't long enough. I was already missing everyone by the time I was back on that plane. I even caught a nasty cold, as if my even my body was rebelling against the idea of leaving.

Don't get me wrong, now that I'm back in Kadogawa, it's wonderful. Everything is just as pleasant as it was when I left, and my house is great, and my hamster is cute and the students are hilarious. And it's nice speaking Japanese again, feeling like a smart, adventurous human and whatnot.

But honestly, if I'm thinking seriously about where I want to be in 2017, it's not Japan. I'm ready for something different, a new locale, a new language, even a new job. This visit really brought that to the forefront for me.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is this will be my last year on the JET Program. I'm heading back to the US in August to do something else.

I'm a little nervous, a little excited, but all in all, I'm ready for a new chapter.

After eight months, that is. Kadogawa's not done with me just yet.

Downtown Main Street in Huntington Beach
Sammy and Allison eating cronuts"




The Federal Bar in Long Beach

Duke's in Huntington Beach




Espresso in Los Angeles

Amy Poehler's (my hero!) star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Los Angeles traffic




Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Home


Apologies for the hiatus, Noodles fans! I've been so busy for the past few months I haven't wanted to update. It's been a bit of a whirlwind but I'll catch up.

For the winter holidays, I visited my hometown in Huntington Beach, California (pictures to come), where I was able to catch up with family and friends, drink egg nog and snuggle with my dog on the floor. His hair is still all over my sweaters.

When I had to head back to Japan, honestly, I was pretty broken hearted. It was so strange to be home, and know that I didn't really live there anymore. Home was now, well, Japan. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's just hard sometimes. It's isolating.

I returned to Japan last Wednesday. It was a little bit hard being back. I had caught a nasty cold, which that certainly didn't help things.

So, this weekend, to battle my just-left-California blues, my boyfriend and I took a mini roadtrip to Kumamoto for the evening.

 

Leaving my house just after breakfast (which ended up being about 11:30am), we drove the three hour journey to have a little change of scenery. We visited Kumamoto Castle, had boiling hot nabe, and ended the night at a restaurant that may or may not have been named "I love steak, I love beer." We looked at kooky shops, strolled (as I shivered) through the city streets and had a coffee to warm us up afterwards.






Home can be a lot of different places, I guess. It's okay to not know where you belong, as long as you have good people who love you and warm coffee to keep you feeling grateful.

I've got that, so I guess I'm doing alright.