Goodbye Takahagi

Although my contract officially expired some time ago, today was my last day as a teacher. The last two weeks have pretty much been one continuous farewell party. With speeches and toasts literally every night, presents received and pictures taken, finishing JET has been a gradual process to say the least. Perhaps because of that it was a little difficult for me to get a sense of closure from most of those farewells. I think I talked to everyone I wanted to and said all of my goodbyes, but knowing in the back of my head that I would probably see any given person again as I continued my farewell tour lessened the emotional impact. Well, now I've finished all of my duties as an English teacher, and yet this whole experience of living in a small town in a foreign country for two years steadfastly refuses to be summed up in a nice neat package. Instead, I'm just sitting in an apartment that isn't even mine (thanks Tom!) a little depressed at the realization that yeah, it's over, but also wondering, what's going to happen next?

Hopefully sometime soon I will be able to think a bit more clearly about what teaching in Japan has meant to me, and what to take from this experience going into the future. For now, I just know that despite plenty of frustration at times, I am going to miss this town and the people I met while in it.

Accident Update

It's been an up and down couple of weeks. Dealing with two insurance companies and two repair shops in Japanese has been a bit taxing, and I'm still not sure how it's going to turn out, but hopefully I can get my car back on the road soon. Things started out great, I got a call from my insurance company, saying the truck driver's insurance was accepting 100% of the blame for the accident. I was relieved to somehow avoid the "if your car is moving, you're partly to blame" rule in the insurance system here. All that was left to do was talk to the trucker's insurance and get my car fixed.

At first, when I talked to the other driver's insurance company, I was ecstatic. The first words out of their mouth were "700,000 yen" ($7,000) of damage, and I immediately thought of all the carbon fiber I could buy with that. But something seemed a little off. How on earth did they come up with that number? The next sentence brought me back down. "Yes, and unfortunately since your car is only worth 200,000 yen, we won't be able to pay for repairs of that level..."

What?

Granted, I was a little worried from the start about my car being undervalued. You just won't find any Tourer-Vs in a normal Toyota dealer's used lot anymore. The only X90 Mark IIs around at a normal dealership are bargain bin base models, which are worth next to nothing. Still, my buddy Kevin paid more than 200,000 for his base model Mark II when he got to Japan. When you look at a Tourer-V, and a manual, the price goes way up, not even considering all the new parts on my car. So, it was obvious that the insurance company was fucking with me, both by undervaluing my car and overestimating the repair costs. I tried explaining that my car was worth much more than that, but the lady at the insurance company wasn't having it, and kept talking about the red book value. Argh.

I panicked, hard, imagining the trucker's insurance company basically stealing my car from me. I was also thinking about all the money I'd put into it (hell, I literally paid more than half of what they were offering me for the car only a couple weeks earlier for the shaken inspection!) disappearing with nothing to show for it. After worrying about it for way too long, I got some relief the next day when I called up Kazama, the guy who doesn't know if Bryan is spelled with a B or a V, also known as the owner of Kazama Auto, the store I bought my car from. After telling him the basics of my problem, his first words were, "Let me talk to them."

After that conversation, things felt a bit better, but it's still not over. Even after talking to Kazama the insurance company wasn't changing their stance. Last weekend, though, I went to the shop in Hitachi my car was towed to in order to get a better look at the damage. And 700,000 yen is completely just them fucking with me. The only damage was cosmetic, and the only body panels damaged enough to need replacement were the front bumper, bonnet, side skirts, and one headlight lens. Even getting name brand stuff, a front bumper is about 60,000, bonnet 70,000, side skirts 40,000, and headlights can be picked up for about 3,000 on yahoo auctions. The other 527,000 yen was completely just them fucking with me, quoting ridiculous labor costs so I would get scared and take their lowball offer on the car's total value. There is absolutely NO damage to the car's drivetrain or suspension. I got in the car last weekend and drove it down to Kazama's shop, almost 100 miles away, with no problems.

Things are looking a little better. Kazama's guys looked at the car, confirmed that the insurance company was full of shit, and the insurance company then called me up to say yes, we were full of shit. But, it's not over yet. They said they need to reevaluate, and I am still waiting for them to give me a new offer. So yeah, frustration all around with the car.

Carnage

AAAAAAAAAAARGH. Need to get that out of my system. So, driving home from Mito last Saturday, had a bit of an altercation on the Joban Highway. I was traveling in the right lane, nothing out of the ordinary, when a truck cab in the left lane ahead of me clipped the right barrier and flipped over to the right, directly in my path. Got on the brakes as much as I could but a collision was inevitable. I was strangely calm in the aftermath, even after the trucker apologized for falling asleep at the wheel. Overall I was pretty lucky. No injuries to me or Saori, only light injuries to either of the people in the truck, and the damage to my car could have been a whole lot worse. The only part of the truck that made contact with my car was the cargo area above the cab, which apparently was made out of FRP (and apparently full of porn if you'll notice in the picture above) so there wasn't much damage to the metal on my car. I will need at least a new front bumper, grill, and bonnet though. But hey, I wanted to replace that bonnet anyway. Since the other driver admitted to falling asleep at the wheel, there's a chance I might not have any percentage liability for the accident. Honestly, even if he was awake when he did it, I don't see how I could be held responsible. A truck flipped over into my lane and I slowed as much as I could to lessen the impact. There were no escape routes since Japan hasn't invented the highway shoulder, leaving a 100 foot drop the only thing to my right. Unfortunately, Japan's auto insurance system is set up to almost never assign blame 100% to one party. Let's hope it turns out allright.

Random Conversation

(While waiting in Kazama Auto to find out how miserable shaken is going to make my life, measured in 10,000 yen bills)

Kazama: "Hey Bryan, how do you spell your name?"
Me: *Huh?? Kazama knows my name???* "Uh, B-R-Y-A-N."
K: "What's that? B? V? Like Tourer-V?"
M: "No no, B." (Pushes the shop cat away and demonstrates writing a capital B in the air)
K: "Ah, gotcha." (Fools around with some machine for a bit) "Here you go, a cell phone charm."
M: "Hey, thanks"

Yeah, uh so now I have a piece of wood with "BRYAN" etched into it hanging off my phone. After an entire life of having to explain my name is spelled with a Y not an I, it was nice to have confusion arise from a different letter. It's also funny that the confusion was resolved by my car's grade. Which gives me an idea. Maybe I should get a replacement badge made up for the back that says "TOURER-B."

Chasing Sakura

A common writing prompt on English tests for my students is "Tell me about your town." Invariably, they will reply with, "My town has a lot of nature." Well, that's nice. No ATMs open after 9 on a weekend, no non-Japanese food other than McDonalds, but at least there are lots of trees. Well, sometimes trees can be pretty cool. As anyone that attended my nationally-televised Hanami party in Ueno park can tell you, once the cherry trees start blossoming, everyone better pay attention. Something about those trees just fills everyone with a desire to revel in being alive.

As spring and warmer temperatures slowly start crawling up the islands of Japan, the sakura trees follow north, but they don't stay for very long in any one place. Part of the appeal is, of course, that the pale pink blossoms only stay on the trees for about a week before being replaced by green leaves. Ueno park this year ended up being a bit of a perfect storm, with rainy weather both Friday and Sunday leaving Saturday as the only viable day for people to party under the trees. And party they did, coming from all over Tokyo, Chiba, Tochigi, Saitama, not to mention 20 ALTs from Ibaraki. Compared to Ueno, Hitachi's Sakura Matsuri, two weekends later, was a much calmer affair. Still, strolling along Heiwa street while chatting with Kenpoku area friends and munching on the gyoza at G-bros is always worth the short ride down. For the first time I visited Kamine park, as it was shutting down, giving its mostly abandoned attractions an eerie feeling. Back in downtown Hitachi, the cherry blossom festival was already over, street stalls and rockabilly dancers replaced with a line of cars snaking towards the station.

There's something calming in that contrast between the bright flower petals and the night sky behind them. Still, it wasn't long before Hitachi's trees went green, and Takahagi's along with them. I thought I would have to leave the Kanto area and go north to Fukushima or even further to get what I really wanted, a picture of my car surrounded by cherry blossoms. Unfortunately I didn't actually have my car back from Kazama Auto until last Saturday, and by the time I had it back in Takahagi I was too beat to do much exploring. Luckily, it turns out I didn't have to go far. Today I was able to leave work a bit early since almost all of the teachers were out visiting parents, meaning no classes to teach. I took the afternoon to cruise around Takahagi and experience some of that nature my kids are always bragging about.

Although my main school is only a 2 minute walk from the beach, actually only a very small part of Takahagi lies along the coast. The rest of it is covered in mountains extending to the northwest. The climate change between the two areas means that although everything in the city area of Takahagi where I live is done, trees in the higher elevations are hitting their prime right now. I was informed of this by a distinguished older gentleman who insisted I called him Professor Sakuragi. Maybe. I also learned that yamazakura, the cherry trees that bloom naturally on the mountainside, can be quite different from the rows of trees planted in the cities below. Many of them are completely uncultivated, naturally growing to impressive heights and spreading their branches wide. Their blossoms tend to clump together, and many times they will appear simultaneously with the green leaves. All of which makes this tree in Shimokimida (3 minutes from my mountain school!) all the more impressive.

Professor Sakuragi went on to tell me that he and his wife had been to our very location only two days before, only to find that the tree had not yet started to bloom. With rain in the forecast for the next few days, he (and I) were quite lucky to see such a beautiful tree blossoming at that time. Proving their devotion to nature, or at least sightseeing, people actually come from well outside of Takahagi just to see this tree. Oh yeah, and I did get plenty of pictures of my car and sakura trees amidst the wonderful nature all around Takahagi.

Must be dreaming

Let's ignore the fact that I only have 4 more paychecks before I am unemployed with which to move out of my apartment, pay the deposit on a new one, and live however long it takes me to find a new job in Tokyo, and just do some shopping for my car.

Also, shaken. Urgh. Yearly tax on cars that could end up costing me around $1000US. No way around it.

But, next, cooling. My car's been running pretty hot since I got it, usually around 98-99C. When I get it on the track, hopefully soon, I'm gonna need to do something about that, better radiator maybe. Looks like Koyorad has one for about 4 man, or Trust is 9. Yikes. Getting the heat out of the engine compartment would be a good idea too, so an aero bonnet could give proper ventilation. Could go full carbon, which would look sweet and be lighter, but more expensive and maybe more flashy than I want. D-MAX does this carbon one for 7 man or FRP for 5, although this picture is from a 90 chaser since theres no pic for the mark II on their site. Second is a FRP hood from Car Modify Wonder that I saw at the Auto Salon in January, but since their website is crap I have no idea how much it would be. I do like the fact that it's a little less duct-y than the D-MAX hood, but then again, that's kind of the point, isn't it. Last is a FRP bonnet from Hippo Sleek (what kind of name is that, seriously) that costs as much as a full carbon bonnet, 7 man, and would require another couple man to get painted. Of course that one is my favorite so far. D'oh.


Next is the headlights. As you can see, the passenger headlight is getting yellowed. It's nothing big, and purely cosmetic, but bothers me. Options are getting a used set of factory headlights in better condition off yahoo auctions for probably about 6000 yen, or replace the covers with new plastic ones, which would look sweet but cost 2 man plus labor.


Or, I could rent a heat gun and try to do it myself. Could be fun.

That's probably all realistically in terms of what I'm gonna do to my car, unless more stuff breaks. Eventually I'll need to replace some of the aero parts, especially the rear bumper, which I put a huge crack pretty much the first week I had the car. But, before I do that, I want to try taking it out to Ebisu myself.

Graduation

Yesterday I watched some of my favorite students walk out the door of their school for the last time. Last year I wasn't able to attend the graduation ceremony because I was scheduled to work at a kindergarten instead This year I was actually scheduled at an elementary school away from my main junior high school again, but luckily I was able to change my schedule around thanks to a couple JTEs. I'm really glad I was able to be there. I've been teaching these kids since I came to Takahagi and it's really been a pleasure watching them grow up and mature (a little) into high school students. They're the only class that I will see start and finish their third year, since I'll be gone myself come July. One important thing to keep in mind is that in Japan, when kids graduate junior high school they don't all go to the same high school. Instead they have to take weks and weeks of tests get into specifically ranked high schools across the prefecture and beyond. In that regard it's almost like high school graduation in America, with kids saying goodbye to the friends they've been with since kindergarten.

The actual graduation ceremony was a little dry, as these things tend to be. Principals and members of the board of education giving speeches, etc. One nice thing I thought was that they delivered messages from all of the teachers who had taught the graduating students in the past but had been transfered to other schools or cities. The real emotion came when some of the students got up to give speeches. Plenty of the kids in the audience were tearing up, not to mention the ones giving the speeches. It was starting to get to me a bit too. Somehow I think when I hear something in Japanese it carries more emotional impact than the same words in English. I think sometimes these things sound trite or corny in English because we've heard similar things so many times before. But hearing it for the first time in Japanese bypasses all those reactions and just leaves you with the emotion and meaning behind the words. Writing it out in English really does make it sound corny, but the speech I liked the best was one girl talking about her memories in class, saying, "Even when we had really boring or really difficult classes, I still enjoyed learning because we were doing it together, as a class, as friends. I want to keep learning with everyone tomorrow too, but I can't do that anymore, can I?" Hmm. Maybe it has more impact if you're watching a 4 foot tall girl struggle to get the words out and not break down in tears. Or maybe not.

The sense of togetherness and arriving at graduation as a single group was an important theme for the day. Speeches by staff continually referenced the fact that every single student was graduating. One interesting thing was, during the ceremony there was no mention of class rank, test scores, or who would be going to the most prestigious high schools. The only achievement recognized was perfect attendance. In other words, those that never took a day off from being a part of the group. Which is why two students really confused me. There were two girls graduating that I had literally never seen before. I know its ridiculously hard not to graduate in the Japanese school system, but is it really possible to do so without ever going to school? It was easy to pick these two out from the rest of the students, since they both had their normally long skirts hitched up to mid thigh, and one had bright blonde dyed hair. What's more, neither one bowed during the graduation ceremony. I couldn't really get my head around how they were able to participate and graduate despite breaking so many rules. Why did all the rules so strictly enforced on all of the other kids in order to preserve group uniformity not apply to them?

Some Decisions Aren't Really That Hard

Yeah, so one year ago this time I was tormented with indecision over the recontracting issue. You could read all about that here if you're so inclined. After struggling with that decision for so long, it really turned out to be pretty easy. The ups and downs of moving to another country and actually trying to live a halfway normal life in a Japanese town of about 30,000 people was something that needed more than 12 months to get used to. I know I didn't get any culture shock the first time I came to Japan, but that was because the A Team was too busy being atomically fucking awesome to notice a lot of what goes on in daily life here. Plus the myriad distractions available when living 30 minutes from the center of Tokyo go a long way towards easing over the rough patches that are all too visible in a slowly dying inaka town.

So yeah, there were definitely rough patches in my first 6 months in Takahagi, before I had to decide to stay another year here. But after deciding to recontract I found out that they were just rough patches. Going from Winter to Spring really was a rebirth in so many ways. The new school year brought new students, and a renewed sense of effort from me and all the teachers I worked with that made the job amazing. Deciding to recontract conferred upon me my Definitive Title and a leadership position among the Ibaraki JETs. Spring also brought hanami and a rebirth of Japan style debauchery underneath the cherry blossom trees. It also brought me together with Saori. So yeah, pretty much a month after signing the paper everything started going my way. Of course, there have been rough patches since then too. Some new, and some of the very same problems I described in my post around this time last year. But, the extra year gave me a great deal of perspective. I saw the downturn from October-January for what it was, temporary. Seasons change, situations change. It's let me stay a great deal more positive about Japan and the job when times are tough (as they are right now actually, lemme tell ya) since I know that they will get better soon.

So it's interesting that with all this newfound wisdom that I decided not to recontract with no hesitation whatsoever. I guess that perspective has shown me what problems I can change and what I can't. And what I can't change about my life as an ALT is living on the extreme edge of Kanto. Let's give an example from a week ago today: after an awesome sumo trip that about 40 people went on, planned in part by me, I was feeling good until I hadda get on that train back to Ibaraki. In order to keep from noticing the declining number of buildings as the Fresh Hitachi sped its way through Kashiwa and southern Ibaraki, I was busy trying to fill the hole with whatever media I had on hand: DS, iPod, keitai, etc. Of course (see my post here to confirm) I'm an idiot, so I managed to be entirely too unaware until I saw the train I was on was moving away from Takahagi. Argh. Of course, since it was already 10PM by that point, I had no business being North of Takahagi, since that's where the Dead Ones live. Or, I mean, since there are no trains southbound after 10PM. AAARGH. So I ended up choosing to spend ￥6000 for a night in a hotel in Fukushima, which was a whole lot better than the other option, a cab ride home for probably 4 times that amount (about $200). Laying down in a random business hotel in a city an hour north from where I live, I was struck by how isolated life is out here. The only reason to live in a place like this is to have space for a family to grow. It's safe and gives you a nice controlled environment for your kids. But it offers nothing to someone like me. I have no family here to back me up, and come drive out North to Fukushima after small lapse in concentration. I don't want a family (yet). What I need is Tokyo. I need a group of my peers, not people 10 years younger or 10 years older than me. I need events. I need life experience. It would be a shame to leave Japan through Takahagi. Tokyo draws me in like no other place I've ever been to, and I'm happy to say that I've decided to live there starting this August, no matter what. I am extremely pleased to find out that I will be joined by Mr. Jay Hoare. I know that there will be ups and downs, but it will be on my terms because of what I want to do.

NAOKI gained a level

Today in class one kid started humming the Final Fantasy victory fanfare. Then a bunch of other kids started picking it up. It was like some kind of virus going around. The best part was, though, that apparently none of the kids, including the first one, had any idea what they were humming. They all just kept asking each other “Where does that music come from?”

Danananaa na na na nanaaa

Car Life Japan

After driving here in Takahagi for a couple months, and then going back to America over the break, I got a good chance to see the differences in driving in America and Japan. In the end, it all comes down to space. Living in the middle of America gives you plenty of room to build a highway with 5 lanes going each way and big grassy medians everywhere. Thats just not possible in Japan. Most buildings are built right up to their property lines, and then feature a sidewalk/drainage ditch combo with a sharp curb or metal guardrails. For the road itself, you have one lane of traffic each way at most, and no shoulder really. This is in the middle of town on a 30-40 kph road. Driving habits of people around here only exacerbate the problem. It's a common sight to see traffic backed up because it can't get around someone who stopped on the nonexistent shoulder to jump out of their car and buy some cigarettes at a vending machine. Even when traffic is moving, it's usually bogged down by some car shaped like a cardboard box with a 600cc motorcycle engine redlining as it struggles to get up a hill. And there are a lot of hills. This is a common situation even on the most important road in northern Ibaraki, Route 6. The biggest road around is only 2 lanes and it still has to carry all the commuters struggling to get up to the speed limit of 50kph. Yeah, its the main artery for commuting and the speed limit is about 30mph. It's basically useless. The only alternative is to use the toll roads. If you do that, you can expect to pay 1000-1500 yen to go just 50 km to Mito, and the prices go up from there. Oh, and gas costs twice as much as in America too.

So given all the headaches that come along with car ownership, I must be regretting spending all my money to get my JZX90, right? Hell no. It was totally worth it. Let me give an example. When I first came to Japan a year and a half ago, I had to spend 5 hours to ride the trains up to Ebisu to see some drifting. Then, when I finally got there, I was cruising up in the backseat of a taxi, most likely a Toyota Comfort or a Nissan Gloria, while staring longingly at a parking lot full of 180s, hachi rokus, and FCs. There was a huge disconnect between me, just a spectator, and everyone else, who even if they were just watching the pros driving sideways, were active participants in the car culture. Luckily, on the way home I happened to meet a guy who about a year later would end up selling me my car, Yankii Doraemon. Since I've had it the problems of driving in Japan have only become more noticeable. The coilovers threaten to scrape the front half spoiler on every bump I go over. The clutch (while it could be much worse) is still a bit of a nightmare in the stop and go traffic that frequently occurs in the mountain roads where I live. And the twin turbos can hardly console me when kei cars or decotora clog up every available avenue. And yet, it's worth it. A couple nights ago I was just doing some shopping in town. I parked my car and as I walked to the store I noticed a really nice JZX110 Mark II iR-V. Then when I was leaving the store, that car had left, only to be replaced by a 100 Tourer V. There was no one in the car, but the engine was still idling until the turbo timer stopped it. With my 90 there it was like a little Mark II family reunion right in front of Cainz Home. Then, later on that night, I saw the same 100 and a R33 GT-R stopped at the same stoplight as me. We were all waiting for the light to change, engines drowning out all other noise in the area. I looked at the other Mark II, and at the Skyline, and then at the wheel in my hands. And then I just smiled.

Big edit after a couple big weekends: man, I was so right. Friday night, 8 PM, I leave Takahagi for my first venture onto the Shutoko, Tokyo's highway system. No more straight shot Joban line, it's time for the spiderweb of the C2, Chuo, 1, 5, 6, and of course the Wangan, all centering in on C1. I mostly stayed on the Wangan, trained by years of TXR to head for the big Yokohama Bay Bridge, and at the end of it... Daikoku Futou. But I had to pass by to head to a nearby train station to pick up Saori. Exit off of Yokohama K-5 and.. madness. Intersection after intersection with no discernible information to identify which road leads where. Still manage to pick up Saori from a train station in the middle of nowhere no problem, but getting back on the highway... eventually get back, figure out I can't turn back towards Daikoku, and end up going all the way out to the airport on the Haneda line before exiting and crossing back over to the Wangan to start again. Back on the Wangan, notice even more than before the large number of modified cars screaming along in the same direction. Finally back en route to Daikoku, but a new problem arises. While my Trust exhaust was certainly always louder than stock, the drone at 2200 RPM has now become a full car shaking vibrating rattle. Fuck. Guess the stress of a little too spirited driving for the 4 hours or so its taken me to get to this point has taken its toll. Spiral down to Daikoku, and can see the entire array of cars spread out down below, including a neon blue Diablo that I saw stopped on the side of the Chuo at the beginning of the night. Embarrassed by the horrible rattling my exhaust is doing over 2k, I do my best to idle it into the parking area. Get out and damn, it's good. Camera can't take pictures worth shit in the dark so hopefully I will get some video up soon to show everyone what I mean. I will definitely be going back soon.

The next day is the Tokyo Auto Salon. Just like last year, the Makuhari Messe is completely full of amazing cars, only this year, I can actually shop. Totally different experience, instead of just running around thinking, wow car is cool! so is that one! and that one! I could focus on finding some good examples of shops working on JZX90s and the 1JZ-GTE. Still took a ton of pictures, which you can check out here: http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v476/bskrilla/Tokyo%20Auto%20Salon/

Finally, this weekend I made an amazing discovery. On the C1 line, you can get to Roppongi Hills like 5 minutes after you take the Shiba Koen exit. Why would you want to do that? Because for 3000 yen, you can park for 24 hours in their garage. Haha I got pulled over by mall security and directed to a special garage for Lambos and Porsches because my car is too low to enter the normal garage. Japan is awesome. Driving in Japan is awesome.