September Changes

After a very busy August and early September, many things have changed. Tara and I have comfortably moved into our new apartment (pictures coming soon). I have begun studying ESL teaching at college. There are 5 courses that I must complete, and it may take around 1 year to finish all of them. Meanwhile, Tara has changed her study plan...again. She is now back at our university to study anthropology - 人類学　- once more.

Both of us have found 2 part time jobs. Between school and two jobs each, we are very busy! One of our jobs is very similar to the job I had in Japan, working for Geoff. We are tutoring Korean students living in Canada. The students go to normal Canadian schools during the day, and in the evenings we go to their homes and tutor them in English. Because the students are going to Canadian schools, they need to use English every day, so it is very important for them to improve!

このバイトは本当にGeoff先生の会社に似ているらしいです。Kings'のように楽しかったら嬉しいです。今週私とタラちゃんはこの仕事を始めます。ガンバリマス　！！！

Engaged!

I love Tara.

That's why I decided to propose to her last month before we left Japan.

I guess she likes me too because she accepted!

I proposed on July 6th, and we left Japan on July 9th. Hard to believe that it has been one month already!

Things are good.
I am very happy.

- Ian

Firsts and Lasts

We are now down to the FINAL DAYS!

As our time here is winding down, Tara and I have been trying to enjoy Japan as much as we can. There are many things that we love about Japan that we're trying to enjoy or buy for the last time (hot springs, sushi, ramen, bentos, photo booths, etc.) . There are other Japanese experiences that we have missed out on that we are doing for the first time before leaving. One example of this is PACHINKO!

Pachinko is a gambling game invented in Nagoya (the city Tara and I first lived in when we moved to Japan). The machines are a colourful mix between pinball machines and slot machines. When we first arrived in Japan and walked around in the evenings, we thought "Wow, there are so many bright lights. The night life must be so exciting here! There's so much to do!" But it didn't take us long to realize that most of those bright lights are attatched to pachinko parlours, and pachinko parlours are full of smoking, gambling, pachinko-zombies. When you walk past the entrance of a pachinko parlour the automatic doors slide open, and your senses are instantly overwhelmed. The smell is mostly smoke, but it's mixed with the smell of despairing sweat and crushed dreams. The sound is absolutely deafening - thousands and thousands of tiny metal balls pouring down through the machines, and a myriad of electronic dings and blips and voices shouting praises and encouragements. The sights - blinding lights, smiling winking animated characters, endless rows of flashing machines, and of course...


ALL THE HAPPY PEOPLE!!! Look, they're so happy they can't even smile. Rows of people completely mesmerized by the pachinko balls.



The Pachinko Machine
The pachinko machine is mostly made of meaningless distracting cartoons on a screen, or physical moving characters (like on old pinball machines). My machine featured a bikini clad girl swimming around with sea creatures, while Tara's machine sported some characters from The Mask who called out Jim Carrey lines at random. The main goal is to land the metal ball bearings in a hole. This is done by turning the knob on the lower right side of the machine to control the speed at which the balls shoot across the top of the machine. As the balls drop down the face of the machine they bounce off an arrangement of pegs and either fall into the intended hole, or (more likely) drop into the bottom of the machine where you can watch your money rapidly roll away. The more balls that land in the correct place, the more chances you get to spin the cards (or sea creatures) on screen - this part works like a slot machine. If you line up 3 of the same symbols you enter SUPER LUCKY MODE!!! Now you must land the balls in a separate hole, and doing so wins you.... MORE BALLS!
Don't understand? That's ok, neither do I. The whole experience was very confusing.

My First Pachinko Experience
The best way to experience pachinko is to have a veteran player explain the game to you. My friend Miho's dad goes to pachinko almost every day. When we sat down at the machines he stuck a coin under the knob so that it would stay in place when turned. He also started showing me sweet spots on the machine to rub or touch in order to increase my luck. I was confused about this and tried to ask why I should push all these different points on the machine, but it's so deafeningly loud inside that the conversation just went like this: I would point to "the sweet spot" and give a confused look asking "Why?" and Miho's dad would nod and smile. This went on for about ten minutes as my first 1000 yen (roughly $12 Canadian right now) of balls rolled away into the dark abyss of the machine. Later when I asked Miho about these sweet spots ("Do they affect speed or the angle of the balls?" I guessed) she laughed and explained that they are just the superstitions of old guys who spend too much time in pachinko parlours.

I did end up being super lucky though! After having lost 1500 yen with no pay offs at all, Miho convinced me to put another 500 yen into the machine and try once more. Next thing I knew, the bikini girl was going crazy! She was swimming all over the place, and the sea creatures just kept lining up in matching sets of 3, time after time. The machine called out "SUUUUPER LUCKYYYYYYY!!!!!" and my tray of balls grew into a small mountain of balls. Actually, I ended up with 3 full trays, and when we finished a man came over with a little wheely cart to help me transport my treasure.

The pay-out system used at pachinko parlours is probably the funniest part of the whole experience. Gambling for money is When I cashed in my balls I received a ticket that could be redeemed for chocolates, snacks, or small coloured pieces of plastic containing tiny pieces of silver heart-shaped jewellery. You can't take the jewellery out of the plastic case, so why would you want such an odd prize? Because out behind the pachinko parlour there is a booth with a person who buys trinkets at different rates depending on the colour of plastic. It's an odd and hilarious loop-hole in the system - the police realize that this goes on all over the country, but for some reason they've decided to just let it continue. So, in the end I walked away with 3000 yen, after putting 2000 into the machines. It was ... interesting.

The Last Two Weeks

Dr. Neoは カッコイイですね！

Here is Dr. Neo performing a traditional Hawaiian karaoke dance.

It's hard to believe, but two more weeks have passed and I only have 10 days left in Japan (this time). The past two weeks have been filled with farewells. There never seems to be enough time to spend with everyone, but it has been great catching up with people here even if only for a short time.

Tsubasa does some head banging to Ian's singing.

Tsubasa and Mami show us their moves on the sofa!

Tara has been approved by this dentist.

We even got Mrs. Neo to sing a few songs.

An amazing duet. Trust me, it was beautiful.


~ Ian ~

What's Cooking?

Ian hard at work in the kitchen... as usual.


As many of my students know, I do almost all of the cooking at home. Students love to ask me what kind of food I make, and whether or not I eat Japanese food at home. I guess the best answer is that Western food is very expensive here in Japan, so I have adapted my cooking to use Japanese ingredients. I wouldn't call it "Japanese food" exactly, but it's certainly Japanese-inspired, or Asian-fusion cooking. Because I get asked about this so often (by people in Japan and elsewhere), here you have it...

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Ian's Regular Lunch and Dinner Menu 　(while in Japan)
イアンの普通の食事のメニュ

> Japanese style curry with rice ＝　カレーライス
> Japanese style curry with udon noodles ＝　カレーうどん
> Fried soba noodles　＝　焼きそば
> Cold soba noodles　＝　ざるそば
> Cold udon noodles　＝　ざるうどん
> Fried beef, vegetables, and egg on rice　＝　牛丼
> Fried rice with vegetables　＝　チャアハン
> Spicy tofu, vegetables, and ground beef on rice　＝　
辛口のマーボー豆腐
> Omelette on rice/stuffed with rice　＝　オムライス
> Grilled salmon with vegetables　＝　焼きサーモンと野菜
> Pizza　＝　ピザ
> Salad　＝　サラダ
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でも、おいしいかな　。。。？　私達わ後二年間ぐらいでほとんど毎日イアンの料理を食べていて、まだ生きてるから何とか大丈夫と思います。
But is it good? Well, Tara and I are still alive after a couple of years of surviving on my cooking, so I suppose it can't be that bad.

Here's one of my attempts at Canadian-Japanese Fusion Cooking. It's grilled maple salmon with rice, boiled pumpkin and spinach, and fried eggplant in miso sauce.

On a related note, Tara has been taking a few baking classes recently at the local ABC Cooking School. She has been bringing home some tasty little puddings and cakes, much to my delight. In fact, I'm quite happy to continue cooking dinner as long as these desserts keep coming my way... hint, hint...


Here's Tara's marble cake. Yes, it did taste as good as it looks.

It WAS great, Tara!
Hint, hint...



Ian