JET Program CIR Report
CIR Report from Kanazawa (5)By Sophie Bocklandt What a crazy summer it has been! On July 24th my sister and her friend arrived in Japan. Because my business trip to Ghent was coming up, I could not take much time off, but still we enjoyed a little trip to the Unesco Heritage thatched roof houses of Shirakawago and the beautiful mountainous hiking area of Kamikochi, the so-called Japanese Alps. The first night we stayed at a Japanese temple hotel in Takayama and the second night we picked out a traditional ryokan hotel - with salty Japanese breakfast - in the middle of the mountains. Of course Japanese entertainment like karaoke, funny purikura pictures, turning sushi, kimono fitting and hanabi fireworks were all on the menu during my sister’s visit. A few days before I went to Ghent, we decided to do a last trip together to the castle city of Hikone. From there we hoped to enjoy a superb view over the Biwako lake, the biggest lake in Japan. How shocked we were to see a pile of garbage all along the shore! Because garbage is almost invisable in Japanese scenery - despite the lack of garbage cans - this was really a sad discovery. On top of that rain decided to bother us, which turned into a very painful experience for me…Running to the train and not holding on when stepping on, I slipped, fell into the gap between the train and the platform and actually landed under the train! I was pulled out immediately by surrounding passengers and station staff and put on the train, but because it looked pretty bad, the station staff decided to call a doctor after arriving in Kanazawa station. How surprised was I when an actual ambulance and stretcher showed up! A bit ashamed I was driven away to a nearby hospital, where they took X-Rays of my legs, which luckily turned out to be okay. But because of the open wounds on my legs and the bruises on my back and bottom, the following flight to Belgium was a rather painful experience! On August 4th I arrived in my city of Ghent with a delegation of 4 Japanese landscape garden specialists. The purpose of the business trip was the construction of the kotoji lantern, a present from Kanazawa for the 35th year of sistercityship with Ghent. Because this year’s summer was extremely bad in Belgium, working outside in the cold and the rain was sometimes hard. But thanks to the help of several specialists from Ghent, the work went fast, leaving us plenty of time for sightseeing. After going around Ghent, we visited Brughes and Brussels and took our time to enjoy many delicious Belgian dishes and of course lots of beer! From breakfast till dinner I accompanied the delegation to interpret, but at night I took time for myself, giving me the chance to see family and friends again. It was a very tiring week - do not underestimate jetlag - but it was an interesting and fun work experience. On the last day a little ceremony was held to inaugurate the lantern and I was thanked by the deputy mayor for playing an important role between the two cities. I felt quite proud! And now the citizens of Ghent can gaze at a traditional Japanese lantern while strolling around the city park! On Saturday night I came back to Kanazawa to leave again on Sunday to meet up with my sister in Tokyo. For her last night in Japan we went strolling around in Odaiba, shooting pictures of the local Statue of Liberty and the beautiful Rainbow Bridge. As a big finale of her Japanese adventure we decided to stay at a capsulehotel. We thought it would be like laying in a coffin, quite claustrophobic, but this was not true. I could sit up and had enough space to roll around. Plus my own tv and radio inside, ideal when you cannot sleep because of the summer heat. And cheap! The next morning I said goodbye to my sister at Narita Airport, from where I took a flight back home in the company of my boyfriend, who came to visit me as well. Together we went to the sunflower field in Tsubata and the impressive Taisai fire festival of Wajima, up in the north of Ishikawa prefecture, where portable shrines are carried throughout the city and at the end of the night a big lantern is set on fire. All this combined with lots of festival food and drinking of course! Late summer is the festival season in Japan, so beginning of September I went to see the Owara kaze no bon dance festival in Toyama prefecture. Especially at night with groups of people dancing the same dances in the same costumes, it has a special mystic atmosphere. A bit unfortunately this small festival is getting well-known, so hordes of people caused a serious delay on the way back home. There are still many things in Japan that amaze me. One of them is the respect Japanese people seem to have for older people. September 17th is Respect for the Aged Day, a national holiday in Japan. A few weeks ago there was a farewell ceremony for an older chief director at the city hall and all the people of the sections where he walked by, stood up and clapped their hands, impressive. It also amazes me how closely related Japanese people are to nature. Autumnal Equinox Day is a national holiday celebrating the change from summer to fall and the new harvest time. The full moon around that time should be the brightest of the year and therefore Japanese people like to “moon gaze” that night while eating Japanese sweets especially made for this event. For me those holidays were a nice occasion to visit some friends in Ise and Nagoya and a friend from Tokyo passed by Kanazawa. I also enjoyed a little trip to Okinawa, the exotic southern islands of Japan, in the company of my Brazilian colleague. The first day we strolled around in the capital of Naha, visiting the World Heritage Shurijo castle and Tama Udoun mausoleum. We enjoyed delicious Okinawa food (Okinawa soba, goya chanpuree, taco rice) and had fun shopping at the huge Kokusai avenue. The second day we took a plane to Ishigaki island, hoping to have a relaxing beach holiday, but arriving there, we faced a strong wind. Still we made it for some snorkeling. But the wind grew stronger and the next day it started raining: a typhoon was on its way…The day we were supposed to go back home, we could no longer leave the hotel and all planes were cancelled. Even electricity went out! Looking outside the window I saw the familiar typhoon images from tv, only this time they were for real. But despite that one-day delay we made it back home safely, with an interesting experience richer. In case you would wonder, I still work a lot too!! The birthday kid’s event that I did with my colleague turned out to be so popular, that we were asked to repeat the event in August. The following day I had my first official interpreting job for the vice-mayor, when a group of Belgian Rotary Club students passed by Kanazawa city hall. They seemed quite happy to meet up with a co-Belgian in Japan! In September the exchange art student from Nancy returned home, so again I had to interpret, this time for the mayor and the director of the 21st Century Museum. Of course I also participated at her farewell dinner, which turned into a sometimes confusing tri-lingual but fun evening. Let’s say the cleaning up of her apartment after she left, was a bit less funny… September 27th is the holiday of the French-speaking community in Belgium, so I decided to organize a Walloon cooking event. First on the menu was an onion soup prepared with Chimay beer and served with mustard and melted cheese toasts. Main dishes were Liege salad, a lukewarm salad with potatoes, French beans, bacon bits, onion and wine vinegar; and matoufe, a typical dish for the fishermen of the Ardennes, mainly an egg cream with bacon bits, served on a baguette. For dessert I chose the bouketes from the Herve region, apple pancakes with raisins soaked in peket, served with a thick layer of the Liege syrop. A lot of preparation, but a lot of fun, using typical Belgian ingredients to make delicious dishes unknown but very appreciated by the many Japanese participants! Another fun work was the translation of a picturecard show for kids, a little story about a Japanese goblin that will travel around the world and even visit Belgium, the Netherlands and France. As a reward for the translation I was invited to see a musical performance for and by kids all the way up in the mountains of Osugi, a nice afternoon. Also this year we had the International Friendship Festival, where my CIR colleagues and I were asked to do presentation on stage, again in traditional folk costumes from all over the world. The first day I wore an African outfit, the second day a wedding dress from Georgia, south of Russia. The festival was the first time I worked together with my new male American colleague. Until now we were four girls who have all been in Kanazawa for over a year (I can barely believe it, but I have indeed become a second year CIR!!), so it is refreshing to have a male newcomer amongst our midst! This month I had four schoolvisits on my agenda, two elementary schoolvisits where I introduced some Belgian games and handicrafts; and a two-day visit to a kindergarten, where I made a fool of myself singing and dancing with the kids, crawling around playing games and trying to teach them some Dutch and English. In fact these visits are my way to show that Belgium is still a great place to be, because the huge non-government issue and the so-called manga murder in Brussels have also made it to the Japanese news! I have a lot more travelling ahead and different projects to bring to a good end (my Japanese film debut is coming up!), so lots to write about in my next report! Until then take care of yourselves not to get sick with the changing of the seasons!! |