Monday, November 21, 2005

High Security of Kanoya city

Today the Minister of National Security came to Kanoya city for the affairs about the relocation of American military to Kanoya Self-defense Airbase... and our whole city hall was in full alert since morning. Everyone was to put on their name tags otherwise they will not be allowed to get in third floor area.

And sure enough there were a bunch of protest people who are waiting for the Minister to arrive... and we saw (yeah, yeah, we were waiting by the windows...) the Minister's cars (about 5 nice shiny black cars with 2 huge busses behind them) arrived. It was kinda funny cuz the main parking lot was saved for those cars, but then some of the regular people (i think more on purpose) would drive in and had the security people chased after them.. hee hee

They got off in like 5 seconds and just got in, and that's when the protest chants began... It was not so annoying, but rather interesting, and we were mostly amused by the content. Boueichoukan Kaere-- (Minister, go back!), Kanoya shicho no hanashi kike (Listen to the Kanoya Mayor!) And the whole thing went on and on until the minister came out around noon.

He came quickly as well, and as I was saying that ooh I only saw his hair, as his car passed by, he friggin' rolled down the blackened window and waved like a president at us on 2nd floor... I was more than shocked...

And then today I had to get home to get my iron so I could make the zekken for futsal on Wednesday..(sigh.. another long story..), I got stopped by the NHK people in front of the city hall, and they asked me what my opinion about the relocation of American base... I pretty much just rambled on saying that I think it's important for the government to listen to Kanoya people, but I suppose it's difficult to change what the big people had decided... and then I half-laughingly said:"actually, I'm not Japanese... just a Canadian, working at the city hall." And I could see that the interviewer smiled, (quite nicely actually) and slowly pulled his microphone away. hee hee.

Lots of people said I should've just let it all out, but oh well... I wasn't looking my best anyways.. :p

Friday, November 18, 2005

Can you imagine?


Nanette, Joe and I went to Joyfull for some ice cream and drink bar earlier tonight, and as soon as we sat down, we did the regular "is there any SHS students in there from their schools" thing.. and interestingly, there's none.. but 4 kids from Kanoya High school were sitting in the corner and apparently discussing whether they should talk to Joe or not...

But then somehow Joe started this conversation with them asking them if they know David who's the ALT at Kanoya SHS. They all said yes and that they like him alot. So we started chatting, like right across from the walkway... while most the other people were watching us amusingly.

Their English was AMAZING!!! I never thought they would be that good, but hey, you never know... They're so much better than most of my adult English conversation class students! They all know which university they wanna go, and what they want to do in the universities.

Finally one boy (Miyawaki-kun) pulled out a camera and hesitantly asked if he can take a picture with us. So we did... but this is the day I chose not to have my camera with me... so this keitai pic would have to do.

Good boys. Heather would've been proud!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

The Fantastic Japanese TV News

So right before I went to the Tuesday weekly Eikaiwa, I was watching TV news... A couple of big news: US President George W. Bush arrived in Kyoto for the official visit, the wedding of Princess Nori, and... this daikon (radish) that grew on the sidewalk that apparently captured so many people's heart that the city hall felt the need to take care of it!

This is just one of those things I didn't understand about Japanese news... So, the daikon is apparently as important as the arrival of Bush and the wedding of Princess Nori of Japanese royal family. Interesting...

And Japanese local government would issue Juminhyo (certificate of residence) to Tamachan (a seal)... and become obsessed with this red panda Futa-kun when he stood up (which is normal for this kind of animal anyways...)

Is it because this society is so safe that there's just not much other news to report or just that they would rather look at news such as these to tell everyone that there's nothing going on?

Frankly, I'm confused...

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Went to the Nuclear Power Plant in Satsuma Sendai with the Kinroseishonen Home English conversation class... and it was... interesting, and I supposed I learned more about the nuclear power plant... better than what I learned from the Simpsons.

Here's a pic of a model of the power plant energy machine thing... quite impressive, especially with the blue colour, hee hee and the guy had this tiny little black cap thingie (smaller than the tip of my pinkie finger) that can power a regular household for up to half a year! Interesting~

Then after lunch, we went to the shochu factory Kaido in Kushikino, and we had some really nice tasting of interesting shochu. Kaori said that she wanted to try this one that got many awards for quite many years... and I thought, well what the hey. But then... it was so very strong... that I almost choked.. :p

It was quite nice to hang out with Shoko, Kaori and Aki outside of class~ a change of environment kinda changes everything... and today I wasn't a teacher, just enjoying the bus tour with everyone~ hee hee

P.S: I hope Natasha won't get mad at me for posting this...