Quick Korea trip and new life back in Japan

Greetings everyone!

It’s indeed been too long since I’ve written. I’ve been here for 15 months now. Eating rice on average 2.5 times per day and 1.3 portions per meal since I always overeat, I’ve eaten 1,462.5 servings of rice by now. Amazing I haven’t died a rice death yet. There must be some merits to this staple of rice, however, because to the Western eye, Japanese people often look exactly 10 years younger than their actual age (seriously – no exaggerations here). How fortunate!

December 25^th was my last day teaching at the large English School that brought me here. Overall, the company was very well run, the staff was excellent and the experience gained there was invaluable. Afterwards, I took a quick trip to Korea for 9 days and now have returned to Tokyo.

Before heading to Korea I used couchsurfing.com and ended up doing a home-stay with a wonderful Korean family; it was an excellent cultural experience. For example, I learned that when drinking alcohol in front of your father in Korea, it’s best to use two hands and to turn your head to face away out of respect. I also slept on a “stone bed” there, a slick sheet, which is literally stone, that is heated from below. The heat was a terrific refuge from the ~12 degrees Fahrenheit temperatures outside. I used a thin pad on top, but some in the family used no pad at all - I was too wimpy and could only handle that for a few minutes.

Playing lodging by ear throughout the trip, I ended up in the most unexpected places. In Korea there is something called “jimjiban.” These are big public bathhouses with hot tubs (sometimes scalding), cold tubs, showers, saunas, steam rooms, warm rooms, ice rooms, computers, food and a big floor space used as a communal sleeping area with blankets and pillows that are provided in a big pile in the corner. I quickly learned that these brilliantly conceived local joints are a backpacker’s paradise and sought them at every place. At ~$9USD per night they were a superior option over hotels. Other lodgings included a shared room with some traveling Korean students and, through a connection from Egypt, a night at the home of the President of The Ritz Carlton.

Now that I’ve returned from Korea I am teaching part-time at a school with high quality private lessons and the opportunity to have a flexible schedule. The truth is, however, that I’m aiming mostly to have my own private students and after countless hours of painful computer coding, two fevers and plenty of confusion in communicating with outsourced coders and artists in India, Croatia and Bangladesh, I’ve finally gotten my teaching website live! It is here: 東京英会話.

One last mention: my dream for quite some time has been to compete in the salsa world championships as a pair. I’m happy to say that I’m finally pursuing this dream and have just found a partner with lots of attitude for the stage (a scarce commodity in Japan) and excellent dancing skills. This is a great motivator for me to improve. Keep your fingers crossed for the qualifying competition in June!

At last, enjoy some recent photos posted below.

Sincerely,

Danny

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Korea's portions at restaurants tend to be very large and come with several side dishes. This was a welcome change from Japan's small portions. Here, my friends are pouring alcohol for each other, which is polite in Korea.

Breakfast with the family I stayed with. They eat like this on a daily basis.

Homestay family

Dirty backpacker going for big stakes at the casino. A 10,000 bill! (Okay, it's 10,000 won, which is about $9 USD...)

Coming away with 150%. Oh yeah!

Fried larvae anyone?

People sleeping in the communal room at a "jimjiban." The full service bath houses in Korea that double as a hotels.

Taking advantage of a more private sleeping spot in the hallway...

Robin at a shrine in the south

Danny and Robin conquering

Victory!

Making an important phone call

Getting ready to visit Kim Jong Il in North Korea.

The guard wouldn't let me walk to North Korea and I didn't know what to do.

Back in Japan. On "coming of age day," guys and girls of age 20 dress in kimonos, go to big public ceremonies with notable speakers and old friends and then spend the evenings with their pals.

A recent trip to the area of Hakone where there's an Onsen (hotspring) with a wine bath, tea bath, bubbling coffee bath, chocolate bath and collagen bath. Atsuko and I got drunk in the wine bath (okay, not really).

Holiday Glee: New job, Salsa Performance, Korea

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This picture interesting not because it's unique, but because it's normal. Every day in Shibuya I see some sort of fashion that makes my jaw drop. This was taken just outside the school.
With friends at a seriously local seafood restaurant in Shinjuku (a big downtown area in Tokyo)
With students and teachers at the school's Halloween party. There was tons of food and.... alcohol?! I was amazed that we could drink with students IN the school here. It's normal for them though - a steady stream of alcohol runs through the veins of Japan.
Me wearing a ridiculous costume and posing with the six time world salsa champion and choreographer for "Dancing with the Stars" and "So you think you can dance." We danced while I was wearing this costume. Just absurd/terrific.
With my dance partner, Yumi, at before performing at the Japan Salsa Congress.
Our team: Esperanza.

Men left to right: Yuhei, Kuro, Hide, Shimon, Danny.

Women left to right: Gon, Noriko (Zumba dance leader), Kinu, Ryoko, Yumi
With Yumi... and a lot of makeup
With a friend from Hiroshima area will be going to San Diego for the World Latin Dance Cup in December.

Happy holidays everyone!

It has been far too long since I have written. All is well in Tokyo and MUCH is happening so I wanted to send a quick update.

First, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve been dancing salsa with a Japanese team here. 300 hours of practice and an ungodly amount of cash later, we were able to perform on Halloween weekend in front of 600 people at the 2010 Japanese Salsa Congress. Based on the performance, our team was invited to the World Latin Dance Cup in San Diego! (Unfortunately, however, we will not be attending). The link for the video is here:

SALSA PERFORMANCE: ESPERANZA AT 2010 JAPAN SALSA CONGRESS

In other news, I will be taking winter vacation in Korea from December 26^th until January 4^th. My Australian/Korean co-worker and I will meet there and be staying at his grandmother’s home for part of the time.

Perhaps the biggest news of all, however, is that I have put in notice to end my current employment. My last day will be December 25^th. Teaching at the school in Shibuya has been a wonderful experience I feel very blessed to have been in such a coveted location with terrific and supportive staff. I can’t even believe it’s been an entire year (as of November 24^th). The time has just come, however, to seek more growth elsewhere teaching part-time (I’ve taken an offer) and to have a flexible schedule for dance, studying Japanese etc. I’m currently in the chaotic process of moving apartments and planning Korea while still working full-time until the 25^th.

So, cheers from Tokyo! Would love to hear how you’re all doing! (Although I can’t promise a reply until January)

Best,

Danny

Miscellaneous Photos

Below are photos from Japan that I've meant to post for a while. Remember you can click on a photo to make it bigger. Enjoy!

When I stayed in Takayama this summer vacation my host cooked wonderful, fresh meals. Here is a dinner of spring rolls, breaded eggplant and bell peppers, fish cakes, tofu with whole beans inside, fried bean sprouts, cucumbers with spices and rice topped with ground sesame.
We drove to a very local onsen (hot spring) in the woods 30 minutes from the city. This is a unique onsen because the water is saturated with minerals and ions. It's brown presumably from the iron in it.
Kiki and Norio-san, my hosts in Takayama, relaxing on tatami mats in the lobby of an onsen we went to at a local resort.
A street vendor at a fireworks festival in Nagoya. Summer in Japan is packed with fireworks shows every week in every city. It also happens to be quite wet in the summer and actually was raining pretty significantly on us during the show.
A young couple wearing yukatas (summer kimonos). This is very popular garb at summer fireworks festivals.
Fashion is of the utmost importance to many in Tokyo, including these girls. "Cos' play" (costume play) is one genre of fashion. These girls were on their way to Harajuku, the top high school fashion district.
Robin, my coworker, and I at a fireworks festival in Yokohoma. On the right is our friend Shige, who joined us on mount Fuji and in Kyoto/Osaka/Nara.
I thought fireworks in the shapes of character and faces were only possible in the Lord of the Rings books...

Two peaches - 780 yen (~ $8.00 USD). These were at the local grocery store in the station at my small station of Shin-Maruko. This large grocery store chain has branches in many stations and cities. Prices tend to be approximately double compared to other grocery stores, yet it's always packed with people. I told the gentleman next to me that these prices were outrageous and he replied that they were high quality peaches. *sigh*
Grapes anyone? Only $10! Maybe I should import the ones that grow in my backyard at home...
Doggy fashion is an ubiquitous, funny spectacle in Tokyo. Because of limited space, 99% of the dogs here are small varieties. Cute clothes are just the beginning though - many dogs are pushed in strollers.
A little dinosaur.

To the country's surprise and pleasure, this year Japan made it to the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Before the game I went to the major crosswalk in Shibuya (the one my school looks down onto). Every time the pedestrian signal turned green fans rushed the streets and jumped around yelling in the middle. I had beer spilled on my suit (I had come from teaching), which warranted a dry cleaning run the next day, but it was worth it. Later, about 40 police officers showed up and barricaded the crosswalks.

Sumo Tournament

In the spring I went to a sumo tournament with a good friend, who is another teacher here, Rochelle. The tournament went from morning to evening with the wrestlers starting with amateurs and progressing to the highly paid, most skilled professionals.

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A wider shot of the arena. We sat in the front row of the second level. Early in the day the arena was fairly empty so we sat on the ground floor.
Sumo wrestling is a ceremonial event packed with tradition and special customs. In fact, the wrestling ground is considered a holy space with restrictions on who may enter it. Here the wrestlers line up before their round of matches begins.
These guys didn't want me to hurt them so they agreed to take a photo
Rochelle and I eating sumo wrestler food. I think it's magic food because I felt stuffed and bloated after one bowl.
This gentleman was the biggest of the big.

Here are videos of two different matches. Don't expect packed action like a Hollywood thriller; sit back and take in the ceremony as a whole. They're only a couple minutes each - you can do it!

Kyoto Photos

Below are some photos from my trip to Kyoto in the spring. Remember, you can click on a photo to make it larger. Enjoy!

A tiny, very local eatery where we ate in Nara, which is about 30 minutes from Osaka or an hour from Kyoto. Notice that we're carrying our bags; because it was Golden Week, a Japanese national holiday, all accommodations were full. As a result, we slept (sort of) in a karaoke booth. Completely exhausted the next day, boarded a train in Osaka that goes in a loop and snuck in an additional two hours of sleep.
Shige, Robin and I in front of the largest wooden structure on earth, which houses a giant buddha statue. The size of the building is a bit difficult to grasp in this photo.
A true geisha show in Kyoto.
In Kyoto, even the McDonald's' are beautiful.

Shige and I in the bamboo forest in Arashiyama - west Kyoto.

Famous zen garden of 15 stones in Ryoan-Ji - a temple founded in 1450.
Meiko-san (essentially young geisha) walking in Gion, the geisha district in Kyoto
With geisha-san! Okay, maybe they were tourists dressed up like geisha, but we can always imagine. Either way, standing next to these two felt like standing next to two moving statues - it was quite surreal.
Japanese tourists dressed in Kimonos for fun
Kiyomizu-dera: a beautiful temple complex in the hills of Kyoto