JET Program CIR Report
CIR Report from Kanazawa (3)
By Sophie Bocklandt
(Coordinator for International Relations)Japanese really have a thing with food! Cooking classes and cooking events are immensely popular, at any time of the day you can watch a cooking program on Japanese television, even radio covers live from cooking classes and restaurants serving different cuisines are to be found all over. After visiting some professional cooking classes and organizing some Belgian cooking classes myself (this time meatballs in tomato sauce with celery and rice porridge with chocolate sauce, a big success), I started to get a renewed interest in cooking. At home I was always spoiled by the home-made dishes of my father and later on my boyfriend liked to cook for me, so there was not much need for me to cook. But because my friends here seemed to get some joy and relaxation out of cooking after work, I decided to give it a try. I even bought myself an oven so I could experiment with cakes, an all-time favorite for a sweet-tooth like me. Of course it is more fun to cook for other people, so it became some sort of tradition among my friends to cook for each other or together, to do potlucks or just exchange favorite recipes. Here in Kanazawa there are quite a lot of supermarkets that offer foreign food. Of course you pay more for it, but being able in Japan to also discover Korean, Bresilian, American, Canadian and other food is worth every yen for me. And go eat a ridiculously expensive chocolate cake or delicious icecream once in a while with some co-sweet loving friends, is a treat I cannot deny myself!
These last months some interesting holidays passed by. Of course there was Valentine’s Day on February 14th, but in Japan this is interpreted slightly different. On this day girls give chocolates to the special men in their life, not only meaning their partner, but also their superior male colleagues! So I actually chipped in for a box of chocolates for my bosses, weird. On March 14th, so-called White Day, it is the guys’ turn to give sweets to their special girls. And yes indeed, all the female staff received a box of sweets from the bosses at the office!
On March 3rd it was Hina Matsuri or Doll Festival, a day on which girls display a set of dolls dressed in courtesy outfits from the Japanese Middle Ages. For this occasion my female colleagues and I were again given a nice present, a Japanese scroll with a goldleaf Hina Matsuri image and calligraphy on it. On the backside our names were written in Buddhist kanji, making it a meaningful and very personal present. Of course it came along with the traditional Japanese beenpaste sweets. No matter how nice they look (this time they had the shape of little dolls), I don’t like the taste of them. Which is really a shame because they are a specialty of Kanazawa and the traditional souvenir for my colleagues to bring to the office after a holiday!
In Japan the fiscal year starts in April and ends in March. This means that by the time March arrives, most of the budget is used and Japanese staff spend their time writing final reports and finishing files. But for CIRs this mostly means no work! To keep busy I organized all my files and papers, I even organized my mailbox and I cleaned out my desk. I did research for future events (Easter, dancing, cooking) and I studied Japanese more intensively. Once in a while of course there was communication going on between the sistercities, there were translations to be done (like an invitation for a horror movie director, I still get shivers when I think about the posters) and some articles or reports had to be written. But for a couple of weeks my life outside work was a lot busier than at the office. But I did not mind at all, allowing me again a lot of great experiences!
Although there was not as much snow this winter as usual, I inscribed my friends and myself for a snowhiking event. With tennisracket look-a-like protection under our shoes we walked up a snowy hill and enjoyed sliding down and playing in the snow like little children. Furthermore I enjoyed the beautiful Kenrokuen garden during a light-up, accompanied by shamisen music; I went to see the Kanazawa Winterfest, a gymnastics festival with performances from Russian, Chinese and Japanese athletes; I went to the 21st Century Museum to see the graduation works of the art students of Kanazawa, including work of a French friend; I went to see several movies in the new movie theater near the station and had a great night watching the American Oscars ceremony; I sat out a traditional Japanese performance marathon for almost 7 hours; I went to karaoke a couple of times; I enjoyed a professional Japanese tea ceremony (the beenpaste sweets were once again hard to swallow); I went to a violin performance of a Japanese friend; I was impressed by a concert of the French chansonniere Juliette Greco; I enjoyed several long walks gazing at beautiful plum and cherry blossoms… Since February I also have been going to a traditional Japanese dance class every Friday night. Together with a group of Japanese ladies I learn how to dance traditional Japanese festival dances. After only a few weeks of practice I already had my first performance, on the first day of spring, in an old people’s home; a very thankful public I must say! And the strawberry/white chocolate cake afterwards was a nice reward for being tied up in a kimono for more than an hour!
But the end of the fiscal year also means people moving around within different departments and institutes. In Japan you cannot stay at a public position (eg city hall, schools) for more than 7 years. The place where you will work is decided from higher hand, you have nothing to say about it and you only find out your new position one week before the actual change. To me this is a cruel system, not allowing people to fully grow in their job or to establish deep social contacts, but Japanese argue it improves work prestations, because nobody has the possibility to get burned out in the same position for too many years. Also in my department some people had to leave, including my direct supervisor for the sistercities of Ghent and Nancy, and new people came, including a strict department head. But all these changes were perfect occassions for some traditional Japanese drinking and eating fests!
Of course I also traveled around a bit more, seeing some friends in Japan. Once more to Kyoto, but also to Gifu and Fukui, where I spent several hours visiting the Eiheiji temple, one of the biggest Buddhist temples in Japan.
In fact the main event for me during these past months had nothing to do with Japan. Because work was slow, I planned a longer holiday for myself. The choice was quickly made: go visit my boyfriend who is studying in San Francisco! It was my first visit to America and a great experience of difference in culture, people, language, scenery, food, housing etcetera. As they say in the song: I left my heart in San Francisco! The beautiful city by the bay, the hills, the cable cars, the Victorian houses, the colourful districts, the open people… San Francisco is a real cosmopolitan with a big Japanese community and a commercial district called Japantown. So even being in America, I could not completely escape Japan! During my short sidetrip to Las Vegas I even stayed at the Japanese-style Imperial Palace! Oh, how Japan has gotten under my skin!!
Apparently it also made the Belgian news, but on Sunday morning March 25th there was a pretty big earthquake in Ishikawa prefecture. Since I was still lying in bed, I first didn’t realize what was happening, until some pictures came falling down. Luckily it was only that, but I now understand why earthquakes are frightening! In fact we felt aftershocks until one month later!
Until my next report I wish everybody in Belgium the best! Enjoy the warmer seasons as much as I do in Japan!!
(Photos by Sophie Bocklandt)