Urasa Elementary School Visit - February 2008

Urasa is a pretty small town. The nearest town with department stores is Muikamachi. It takes about half an hour of bus ride from our university. So there is a need to find an alternative for entertainment especially if one does not want to burn his or her pockets too deeply since transportation is very expensive. One of my favourite activities is school visits. Basically its a visit to neighbouring schools arranged by the schools themselves to give their students opportunities to learn about other countries as well as practising english with the graduate students.

The children are so cute and very energetic. After studying on dark matters such as issues on international conflict resolution as well as genocides, it is very refreshing to be reminded that mankind are not that hopeless. That we as a human are born free of sins and the subsequent events form our thoughts and morals. Now, if only there is a way to ensure that these hideous and atrocious ideas such as ethnic cleansing, tortures, rapes and many more crime are being prevented. Sometimes, we do live in such a sad world.

The above picture ws taken in the Urasa Elementary School's Gym. They are so 'kawaii'.

Trip to Zenkoji and Obuse Town - Fall 2007

I went to the Zenkoji and Obuse Town in neighbouring prefecture, Nagano during Fall term 2007 with the UMEX members. If I am not mistaken it was on 4th November, a day before my mid term examination for Global Governance of Human Security subject. However, even though studying and preparing for the exam was important, i gave in to temptation and joined the visit to Nagano-ken. Of course, to appease my guilty feelings, i brought along the notes for the particular subject as I was planning to read it on the bus. The trip took 2 hours to go to Nagano-ken and another two hours to come back to Urasa. Nevertheless, it remained in my bag as I was too busy enjoying the conversation with everyone.

Zenkoji could be considered is one of the many famous temples in Japan. Rather than elaborating the history and significance of the place which everyone could find in other websites, i prefer to remember Zenkoji for its beauty. The building is very nice and its architecture was wonderful. However, after several months having visited Zenkoji, the things that i remembered the most are the trees and flowers. The garden was magnificent. The pictures above which consisted a lot of green were taken while i was in Zenkoji. As for the ghostlike figure, it is one of the window display in the Obuse Town where we stopped to get some shopping done. It is one of my favourite although at a first glance it kind of look scary. The other picture is of the ice cream shop in Obuse Town. Really had a nice time eating ice creams in Zenkoji as well as in Obuse Town. In fact i did not even eat lunch or the proper equivalent of lunch as i only ate 3 ice creams for the whole day. I did wonder how I survived that day though.

Anyway, if you want to know more about Zenkoji, just follow the link below.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e6001.html

For those who are curious on what happened to my mid term, there was no need to worry. I got 29/30 for that particular mid term. I am quite amazed at myself. Maybe the trip to Zenkoji acted as a stress reliever that allowed me to perform to the fullest of my potential. I don't really know. However i do not plan to make it a habit of going to tours and such a day before important exams.

Firewalking Festival at the Hakkaisan shrine

Speaking of the colour of green, one of my most interesting experience during Fall 2007 in Niigata was attending the Firewalking Festival held at Hakkaisan shrine. It is based on the shinto religion and the locals basically pray for good harvest.

Most of the students attended the festival as the university provided free transportation to the Festival site. Besides the firewalking ceremony, the festivals also consisted of rows of stalls selling food, drinks and snacks and i ate my first taiyaki here.

Missing the GREEN!

GREEN here does not refer to the $$$. It refers to the colour of the leaves. Winter is a very fun season even with the pain related to the learning of winter sports. However after a while, all those white background starts to bug you. The above pictures is the pictures i took when i had just arrived at Urasa, Niigata. The parking lot is a view from my room whereas the other picture featuring the tennis court is the view from my dormitory rooftop.

Notice the difference. One of my sensei had a haircut today and we mentioned it to him. His reply is that this is his spring hair cut. Spring? Did someone mention spring? I wonder when spring would come as the snow is still there. Maybe not as high as before. It also has not been snowing for roughly a week now. Anyway, i am going down south for the spring break end of this month. Hopefully the green as well as the pink colour from the sakura would put some life back in me. I never thought my mood would be affected by the weather. However, there is such thing as too much, at least where winter is concerned.

Tokamachi Snow Festival

Its the Tokamachi annual yuki matsuri (Snow Festival) which takes place every February. I went on the 9th February with the locals to check out the fireworks in the snow. The above pictures is the stage where they have the festivals performances as well as the fireworks. It is made from the snow!! Very impressive.

As the festival consist several sites in the tokamachi town, we made several pit stops before reaching the final destination at the stage which is situated at a very hilly side of the town.
Managed to watch the tea ceremony in the snow. It was very beautiful. Did not participate in it though as the line was quite long and we had limited time to spent. So many things to do, to see as well to eat. : )

2nd Attempt at skiing

This is a trip undertaken with the UMEX members, a local association that help the students from all around the world to adjust and experience life in Urasa, Niigata. As most of my friends would know of my limited skills in any athletic endeavours, it can be safely assume that i have not master the art of skiing. Nevertheless the trip itself was a very good experience for me despite the continuous 'gomenasai' mutterings from yours truly as i kinda 'crash' into some of the people as i was lining up to the ski lift. That was embarassing.

Lets hope it would not deter me from going to future ski trips. At this moment, i am still retiring from the skiing experience. At least for the remainder of this winter!!

Winter in Niigata - The first blog entry

As requested by several friends, i have begun the attempt to write a blog on details of my life in Niigata, Japan as a graduate student. I have been enjoying the experience living in Japan that i have been delaying the process of blogging for almost half a year. With only one year and a half to go before graduation, I decided to start blogging my so called exploits from the current period. Once in a while i will insert some of the pictures as well as my thought on the earlier periods. Hopefully this will appease my friends who have been accusing me of having too much fun. Can't help it though as this opportunity to further my studies in the land of the rising sun is like a dream come true for me.

As currently it is the winter season, most of the current pictures would be basically all white. That is basically the view from my room, classrooms and everywhere else in this small town in Niigata. Just do not get too sick of the white background.