"For whatever we lose, ( Like a you or a me), It's always ourselves we find in the sea".

On Sunday morning my friend Kevin picked me up for a sailing trip. When we got to the yacht club we wandered down to the dock with obscene amounts of food and beer. On the dock we heard the soft echos of some old country song wafting through the air with an accompaniment of lapping waves. We honed in on the music to find our ship and our captain.

My first glance at "Hank" told me that he was going to be an interesting guy. Picture a sixty year old Japanese man sitting in a beat up old lawn chair on his boat, staring at nothing in particular with the hint of a smile on his face. He seems to be enjoying the music, the rocking of the ocean and generally being alive on a Sunday morning. This is Hank.

As Kevin and I approached the boat he noticed our presence. His smile widened and his eyes lost their cloudy contemplative appearance, becoming instantly attentive. He and Kevin began to chirp back and forth in Japanese. Despite my efforts to listen I could only understand one word, "fugu." Sure enough, I wandered towards the bucket that he was pointing at to discover three small poisonous Japanese blowfish (fugu). He seemed equally proud of his catch as I was impressed.

As I climbed on board Kevin said to Hank,"This is Chris," and without thinking I immediately began the "introduction sequence." "Hajimimashite. Watashi wa Kurisu. Dozo yoroshiku onegaishimasu." (This is my first time meeting you. My name is Chris. It's nice to meet you). Both Hank and Kevin laughed as Kevin explained, "Hank speaks English man...why do you think his name's Hank?" Alright, fair enough...I overlooked that detail. "Hi Hank, I'm Chris."
"Nice to meet you, where are you from?"
"Toronto...in Canada."
"Ah, I see...Canadian."

As we chatted some young women got on the boat and made themselves comfortable. They were part of a gospel choir. I still have no idea why they were on the boat with us, but they we very nice so I'm glad they were. After a few quick preparations we headed out on the Pacific. When we got far enough to open the sails, Kevin enlisted me to help him with some of the labour. Pull this to raise the sail. Tie this off. Etc, etc. I loved it. I was glad that I could be of use and it made me want to learn more.

When we began to tack (zig zag back and forth based on the direction of the wind in order to make large turns) I was surprised at the incredible angles that the boat was capable of. I could have sworn at one point that the boat was going to tip. The sail was on about a 30 degree angle to the water and it seemed as though the hull was as far on its side as it could be. However, Kevin and Hank assured me that the boat wouldn't tip, so I tried to simply enjoy the ride. And I did!

After we had finished tacking Hank asked the ladies to sing a song for us as we sailed. They sang "Amazing Grace." It was surreal to be out on the water while these young gospel singers serenaded us. Here's a video. It gives a rough idea what it was like, but during the real thing the wind wasn't so loud or invasive.



Before I knew it we were back at the yacht club. It began to rain just as we pulled up to the dock, so our timing was perfect. We took a few quick pictures with the whole "crew" and then the singers went to the clubhouse to practice their songs and we covered the boat. As we worked I asked Hank what his real name was and why everyone called him Hank. He explained to me that he listened to Hank Williams alot when he was young. Then when he was twenty he travelled to California (which explains the English) and brought his guitar with him. He played for as many people as he could and as often as he could...either Hank Williams or something that sounded like Hank Williams. Alot of the people that he began to encounter knew him as the kid who played Hank Williams, but no one could say his real name. So, after a while he was dubbed Hank and the name had stuck with him ever since.

When everything was in order, we went into the underbelly of another boat to have some food and a few drinks with other members of the club. The club members asked me lots of questions about Canada and about my life and I asked them lots of questions about sailing and where they had travelled. At one point they invited me to crew a ship with them on a race from Japan to Australia. The race takes about a month on the seas to complete but the way back would be longer because they were planning to stop in Fiji or Bora Bora. I would loved to try it...but there's no way that I could take that much time off work. Maybe I'll join them for a trip after my contract is finished or sometime later in my life. For now, I want to visit the club as often as possible so that I can learn to sail! Next month I'm trying to get onto a crew to take part in an overnight race. I'm eager to learn and they're eager to teach.

When Life Gives You Oysters, Make Pearls

When I found out that I would be living in Toba, I began to research the city's main attractions. One of the first things that I came across was Mikimoto Pearl Island, it's an island in Toba which commemorates the accomplishments of Kokichi Mikimoto. In 1893 Mikimoto, who was a resident of the Toba area, produced the first cultivated pearl in history. Ever since then his name and the town of Toba have been associated with quality in the pearl industry.

I thought it would be great if I could bring my mother back a pearl necklace as a souvenir of my time in Toba. Shortly after settling in to my new surroundings I set to work, trying to discover where I could get a good pearl necklace. At a work party I mentioned that I was looking for a Mikimoto shop, at which point my co-workers informed me that one of the other teachers at our school could get me pearls of the same quality as Mikimoto for a greatly discounted price.

About a week later, I tracked down Uemura sensei. Uemura teaches physical education and coaches the wrestling team. He's a really interesting and down to earth guy. He's a professional wrestler (ranking number 2 in Japan in Greek-style wrestling a few years back) and has travelled the world to compete in competitions. Despite his daunting figure and the violent nature of his hobby, Uemura is one of the kindest persons I have ever met. He's ALWAYS smiling and he tries to the best of his ability to converse in English with me. When I asked him about buying pearls, he told me that his wife's family sold pearl jewelry and that they would give me a great price on Mikimoto quality necklaces. As a point of fact, I discovered that they sell the SAME pearls as Mikimoto. His wife's family and Mikimoto buy their pearls from the same harvester, but Mikimoto jacks up the prices because they are a big name now.

Uemura asked me if I was available to meet with him during exam week so that I could pick something out. My schedule was wide open, so we decided to meet on October 18th. At just before noon on the 18th, Uemura walked into the staff room and asked me if I was okay to leave. As we left the building I was greeted by a charming young Japanese woman, who Uemura introduced as his wife (I couldn't say her name, so unfortunately I can't write it). We all hopped into his car and headed towards Ise to take care of some business. At first conversation was slow because Uemura and his wife don't speak a great deal of English. But after a while we began to chat about our families and the ride seemed to fly by. After entering Ise, Uemura turned to me and said, "we will pick up my wife's older sister," and then promptly pulled over in front of a house and his wife's sister hopped in. She laughed when I said hello and introduced myself in Japanese and then proceeded to introduce herself in English. It seems that Uemura had recruited Mia (his wife's sister) to assist with the language gap. It was a really nice gesture on his part and it definitely made communication a great deal easier.

They treated me to an Italian buffet for lunch. It was kind of funny because it was basically Japanese food with spaghetti. After eating lunch we headed to the family's house. When we arrived I was introduced to Uemura's brother-in-law, the future president of the family business. He immediately placed a white cloth over the living room table, retrieved three boxes of jewelery from his office laid out a series of earrings and necklaces. They were gorgeous. It was obvious that he had taken a great deal of care in selecting the pearls to make his jewelery. There were necklaces of white pearls and black pearls. Among the white pearls there were a variety of different hues. Some were slightly pink or yellow or blue. Some of the necklaces appeared white, but when the light hit them in a certain way it revealed a pattern of pink, blue and yellow. Fascinating!

Uemura explained how to judge the quality of a pearl based on the size, shape, colour and clarity. We then proceeded as a collective to select the best necklace in my price range. After a great deal of scrutinizing I made my selection. Uemura's brother-in-law immediately stood and said something in Japanese, which Uemura translated for me, "It will be about an hour, is that okay?" I had been looking at sample necklaces. Uemura's brother-in-law was now going to specially prepare my necklace while Uemura and the ladies took me sight seeing in Ise. I picked a clasp for the necklace and then left with my hosts.

They took me to a very old neighbourhood adjacent to Ise Jingu. It was fantastic. While we were there we stopped into a Mikimoto shop, where I saw a necklace that was very similar to the one that I had just bought for my mother. It was 90,000 yen more than the one that I bought ($900 CAD). I was blown away. They had necklaces for $17,000 at this particular shop and it wasn't even one of the nicer shops! After leaving Mikimoto, my guides gave me a short history lesson about the area and then they treated me to "mochi" (rice balls with red bean paste on them) and tea. It was nice to have good company and good food while relaxing on the bank of the Isuzu river, especially since I was supposed to be at work! As long as I'm with another teacher the school doesn't seem to care too much about my absence though.

Just before an hour passed, Mia received a call from her brother, who was calling to tell us that the necklace was ready. We finished our teas and headed back to the house. I was ecstatic to see the necklace and I was endlessly pleased when I did. It is truly beautiful. After thanking everyone for their kindness, Uemura, his wife and I got back into the car and began to drive back to Toba. I was pretty quiet because I was still overwhelmed by the hospitality that Uemura and his family had shown me.

About half-way back to Toba, Uemura pulled the car off to the side of the road and turned to look at me with a beaming smile. I had no idea what was happening or what he was doing. "Chris..." he paused as his wife handed him a small blue bag, "my wife's father would like you to have this." He then handed me the bag and watched in anticipation with his wife. Inside was a jewelery box, which I carefully opened to reveal a silver tie-clip with a pearl encrusted on it. I didn't know what to do or say, but I think that my indelible smile and profuse attempts at words of thanks in English and Japanese expressed how truly appreciative I was.













My tie-clip
















My mother's necklace

If you're interested in buying pearls, or you know someone who is, please let me know and I'll facilitate for you! It would be great to offer the great prices that Uemura offered to me, to my family and friends.

Osaka: Modern Maze Minus the Minotaur

The weekend of the 16th and 17th was a long weekend because the 18th was a national holiday...“Respect for the Elders” day. In light of the long weekend Katie and I planned a trip to Osaka, which is about 2 ½ hours away by trian. After I finished teaching my Saturday morning class, we hopped on a train bound for Osaka and in a matter of hours we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of the bustling metropolitan. It was quite different from little old Toba. The streets were flooded with restaurants, neon lights, shops, hotels, and tonnes of people!

The station that Katie and I stopped at had about 80 exits...seriously...so we guessed which one was the right one based on the map that I had printed out and headed in the direction that the hotel “should” have been in (I write “should” because I was assuming that my map bore some relation to reality...but it didn't). After wandering for a while, we stopped to ask for directions. The phenomenal part about Japan is that even when you put your ego aside and ask for directions...from a person who speaks english...and shows you a map...you still have to make checkpoint stops to make sure that your're still heading in the right direction. Our first set of directions ended up getting us lost because the new map that we were given did not have some of the streets printed on it AND the ones that were on it weren't labelled. The map showed the street that we were on and then were were supposed to turn left at the NEXT street north of where we were. However, in REALITY there were three streets before the one that we were supposed to turn at...they just decided not to put them on the map for some odd reason. I speculate that the lack geographical accuracy is REALLY why Osaka is such a big city. People can find the city, but once they're in they get lost. Then they ask directions from other people who are stuck in Osaka because they're lost too...it's a gigantic urban labyrinthe.

When we finally found our hotel we ditched our luggage and headed out to explore the city. We began with Dotombori street, which is famous for it's many restaurants and wide variety of entertainment establishments (anything from nightclubs to strip clubs, arcades, movie theatres, live shows, etc., all on one street).

















We had dinner at a great okinamiyaki restaurant. We were seated at the okinamiyaki bar, so our food was prepared for us, unlike most okinamiyaki restaurants where you prepared the food for yourself on a grill that is built into your table. Here's a short clip of our okinamiyaki being made.



After dinner we wandered through the arcades and gift shops in search of entertainment and souveniers. At one point we ended up in the SEGA Joypolis, where we did “purintu club” or something like that. I think it's supposed to be a translation of “print club.” Basically you go into a photo booth and have your picture taken in front of various digitally imposed backgrounds. After you've selected which poses you would like to use, you enter another room and use a photo editing program to add captions, or objects to the scene. “Purintu Club” is phenomenally popular in Japan. We walked through another SEGA arcade later in the trip and there were huge lineups for the print club booths.

Before heading back to the hotel we stumbled across a department store with a ferris wheel (of sorts) on top of it and decided to give it a try. The ride gave an incredible view of the city, check out the video below!



The next morning we had an awesome buffet breakfast at the hotel and then packed up all of our things and grabbed some Starbucks while we planned out our day.

















The plan was to find our second hotel, visit the Osaka zoo, go to the Osaka aquarium and then come back to Dotombori street around dinnertime. Note...that was the PLAN. Instead, we walked for about an hour in search of the second hotel. Then when we got to the hotel and attempted to check-in we were informed that we were at the wrong Dormy Inn. The Dormy Inn that we had reserved at was about two blocks away from the hotel that we had just checked out from. Greeeeeeeeaaaat. So we headed back towards the original hotel with detailed directions from the hotel clerk. This meant that we only had to stop three times to ask for directions. It turned out that he had actually given us wrong directions...basically at this point we realized that we would have to ask for directions every block or so. I'm presently planning to revolutionize Japanese tourism by “inventing” street signs and maps with all the streets on them. My gift from the west.

After finally arriving at our second hotel, we dropped off our bags and decided to cancel our visit to the zoo and head straight to the aquarium. Aside from being packed tighter than a can of sardines, the Osaka aquarium was really cool. I was really impressed by some of the larger tanks that they had in the aquarium, especially the tank with the whale shark and the giant rays. Here are some pictures and a video from the aquarium.

The tunnel entrance to the aquarium












A few photos from the largest tank at the aquarium. It housed many species of fish, giant rays and a whale shark.


















































Here are a few pics of Katie and I posing with some Osaka Aquarium celebrities:


























































The sea turtle tank, one of my favourites.


























The fish in action!


Next to the aquarium is the Tempozan Giant (Ferris) Wheel. It's the largest ferris wheel in the world. Katie and I decided to take a ride and despite the poor weather (rain) the view of the city and the world's longest suspension bridge was quite impressive.






























After riding the ferris wheel we decided to go back to the hotel to put our bags away and change our clothes for dinner. Once again we got lost. I'm not even kidding. It's that confusing. We got off at the SAME station that we had departed from when we were heading to the aquarium but we took a different exit and ended up getting lost. I think both Katie and I were pretty fed up at that point. No one likes to spend their whole vacation looking for where they want to go rather than being where they want to be.

After two different sets of directions we found our hotel and quickly changed for dinner. We headed back to Dotombori street in search of an interesting restaurant/bar to eat at. Careful debate led us to choose “Dusk” a hip little hole in the wall bar in a basement on Dotombori. It was a great choice. The server's English was really good, he was really friendly and the bar itself was really interesting.


















We ordered dinner and drinks on the server's recommendations; beer and seafood linguine for me, Umesho and Mediterranean pizza for Katie. After dinner and a few more rounds, we decided to spice things up a little bit. We ordered the house special. We really had no idea what we were in for because...well...we don't read Japanese. The server rushed off to the other side of the bar where he took out about a dozen ingredients and tools. There were martini shakers, fruits, ice, knives, a slew of different liquers, milk, etc. After about 5 minutes of labour two white coloured drinks sat in brandy snifters on the opposite end of the bar from us. Then something strange happened. Instead of bringing us our drinks, the bartender simply walked away. In fact, he left the bar altogether. Every additional minute of his absence made me wonder what was going on and why he wouldn't just bring us our drinks. As Katie and I waited, we chatted and soaked in the bar's trendy decor. As my gaze returned to the drinks I noticed that the bartender had returned. He was doing something out of view underneath the bar ledge directly in front of our drinks. I watched for a while, trying to figure out what was going on, but then I resolved to just forget about the drinks until he decided that it was an appropriate time to deliver them.

The drinks arrived mid-conversation. They were amazing. It was like alcoholic art in both aesthetic and taste. Katie's drink came with a pink glow in the dark ice cube, freshly cut flowers, and fresh fruits carved into the shape of flowers. Mine came with a blue glow in the dark ice cube, freshly cut flowers and fresh fruits. Have a look at these masterpieces, they tasted as good as they look!













































Once the drinks were no more, we settled up and headed back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped at a convenience store where I picked up three more drinks. I worked on one while we walked and I kept the reserves in my back pockets...














Back at the hotel I finished my drinks and then Katie and I decided to head to the onsen. As I've mentioned before, an onsen is a public bath that is divided into men's and women's baths. In the typical onsen there is a shower area and a shared hot bath (hot tub). However, in this particular onsen there was also a sauna! It was incredibly relaxing to rinse off, have a hot tub, a sauna and then a cool rinse....heavenly. If you ever get the chance to try it, do it! Katie and I met outside the onsen after we had both finished and decided to try out the massage chairs that were located near the onsen. Best idea ever. I was already relaxed and the massage chair relaxed me further. I went to bed feeling completely and utterly relaxed. The tension from the hours of being lost in Osaka had simply melted away and I slept peacefully.

The following morning we packed our things and left them at the hotel desk, while we walked got breakfast and some Starbucks. Over breakfast we decided that we would head to a place called HEP 5, a five story shopping complex aimed at the mid-twenties demographic. It was a pretty cool place. Upon entering, shoppers are confronted by two lifesize whale models that are suspended from the ceiling. One is an infant whale and the other is an adult. Both were red, and matched with the outer decor of the building. Past the whales was a shopping mecca that sucked at the souls and wallets of all those who entered. Katie and I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the shopping complex, but neither of us found what we were looking for. It was a fun afternoon all the same though.

After we departed from the mall we collected our things from the hotel and hopped on a train bound for Toba. The weekend was over and it was time to head back to the world of routine and responsibility.