chiba film festival

This weekend was the 5th annual Chiba Film Festival! I went to both the pre-opening party on Friday night and the opening day on Saturday, though I had other plans on Sunday so I couldn't make it then. Anyway, it didn't seem like a very large-scale event, but I felt like the festival and the people organizing it had a lot of personality, which is maybe something you can only feel at smaller events anyway!

So Friday night I headed over to the Chiba City Civic Hall (I think that's what it's English name is, anyway), which I'd actually never been to before. I really only went into the small exhibition hall and the little lounge/cafe area, but it seems like a pretty nice facility for events (which is the kind of thing I've started to notice even though I don't actually organize any events, haha).  For the pre-opening party, they showed some amateur films made by students from nearby universities and even had a mini-concert at the end, including the newly composed Chiba Film Festival theme song! I thought the student films were pretty interesting (I was especially impressed by one made by someone who said she had never even held a camera until college) and I though the theme song was super catchy. :D

Then on Saturday I went right back again for the first day! I had bought a one-day pass (which only cost 2600 yen - not bad at all considering a movie in Japan is usually around 1800 yen), so I was able to go to all the screenings, and in fact I actually did stay there the whole day and watch everything (what can I say, I love movies!). There were four screenings: 'Azemichi Jumping' directed by Fumie Nishikawa, 'Socratic Love' directed by Ryousuke Hayazaka, a collection of slightly strange/fantastic shorts directed by Masahiro Muramatsu, and 'The Dynamiter', an American film directed by Matthew Gordon. I think my favorite was 'Socratic Love', which was a a quirky story about a couple and a picture book (my summary definitely doesn't do it justice but it's hard to explain).

One of the coolest parts about the festival was that the directors were there as guests (for all but the last movie) and after each screening there was a short Q&A session - for the collection of shorts, a bunch of the actors were there, too. Everything was all in Japanese so I can't say I understood everything (this goes for the movies themselves too), but it was pretty awesome to see a work and then be able to hear from the director right after.

They also gave us seat cushions for the screenings, which I certainly appreciated after sitting there all day, and had things like handmade Chiba Film Festival coasters and bookcovers for sale! All in all I'm definitely glad I went, and I would love to go back next year, too. :D

yeti ski trip

This weekend, I went on a ski trip to Nagano! It's a yearly event organized by YETI (Yamanashi English Teachers International), and JETs and their friends from all over come to participate - I think there were something like 100 people there, which is crazy. Even crazier considering even though I said it was organized by YETI, I'm pretty sure one person did basically everything, which is really impressive.

We had a decent sized group of people coming from Chiba, so we all met up for dinner before hopping into a giant 10-person van to carpool to Nagano! It took a little over 4 hours so we didn't get there until after midnight, but it was a fun car ride involving funny stories and Disney singalongs, so it went by pretty fast. When we finally got there, I was super excited to be in a place that was entirely white with snow (even though it made the roads a little scary).

We stayed at a place called the Resort Hotel Lady Diana, which felt more like a lodge than a hotel (which was great). The room I stayed in had a little loft with little stars painted all over the walls and ceiling, which I loved. Anyway, after settling in (it felt like a big slumber party with four futons next to each other!), we went to bed to get some sleep before skiing/snowboarding.

View of our loft from the ladder (it was kind of hard to get a good picture)

The next day, we got up bright and early to head out onto the slopes! We went to Hakuba-Goryu Ski Resort just up the road, and which included both the Goryu and Hakuba47 ski areas. It wasn't too cold (I took off my hat and put it in my pocket because it was warm and promptly lost it, oops) and the snow was nice and powdery (my supervisor tells me that Hakuba is famous for having good snow), which was great.

I had originally signed up to ski for one full day and snowboard for the next morning, but a few days before we left I decided to switch them around, and I'm glad I did! I've only snowboarded once before, but it came back to me pretty quickly and so we decided to go all the way up to the top of the mountain. We stopped around halfway down for lunch and then split up into two groups - a fellow beginner and I decided to just go all the way down while the more advanced people moved to the other mountain. It turns out it was a good thing we did too, because apparently they had to go through some black diamond areas, which we probably would not have survived! That said, both my friend and I found the afternoon pretty challenging as the sun went away and we got tired, but we managed to make it safely back to the bottom!

Winnie the Pooh on the slopes!

After that we all regrouped at the hotel before heading out to a nearby onsen, which felt amazing after a full day of snowboarding. They had an outdoor bath, too, which meant I got another chance to soak in a hot spring while being snowed on - probably one of the best feelings ever. :D After that we had dinner back at the hotel and just chilled for a bit before going to the big party, which I think almost everybody on the ski trip came to. Highlights included the annual 'boat race' with the US vs. the World (sadly no victory for the US) and meeting lots of other JETs and people from all over!

On Sunday morning we managed to drag ourselves out of bed to spend a little more time on the mountain before leaving in the afternoon. Like I said earlier, I had decided to switch it up and try skiing again (which I haven't done in years), and almost as soon as I started going down my first hill I decided that I liked snowboarding more after all, haha. Admittedly I was already sore and tired to start out with from the day before, but somehow snowboarding just felt a lot easier than skiing! Guess I know which one I'll be doing if I go back next year. :)

I only managed to do a few more runs before it was time to go back to the hotel and pack up. After a quick lunch and a late start, we piled back into the van and said goodbye to Hakuba! The ride back was a little quieter this time, since we were all exhausted, and thanks to a couple of detours we didn't get back to Chiba until just barely before the van was due at 8.

It was hard to believe that the trip was only for a weekend - somehow it felt way longer, which was awesome because it was super fun. I had been debating whether or not to go, so I'm glad that I decided to go after all: got to spend some quality time with friends from Chiba, meet some new people from all over, and try snowboarding (and skiing) again in a place covered with snow! :D

tokyo german village

On Sunday, I went to the Tokyo German Village in Sodegaura (I honestly have no idea why Tokyo is part of the name) to see their Christmas illumination! Despite the fact that it's a little hard to get to if you don't have a car (we had to take a taxi from the station), it was really beautiful and worth it.

When we got there it was still light out, but the lights were all already on and we could tell it was going to look amazing when it got dark - which it did. There were tons of lights spread across some little hills, including lots of the parks characters, which for some reason seem to be mostly half-pig half-angel (according to their site here).

Anyway, we ran across lots of fun designs such as a dragon spread out over the hills and hot air balloons, plus things like flamingos, penguins, and Santa in a boat! There was also a magician performing tricks and a light tunnel leading to the ferris wheel. Unfortunately there was a very long line even to get tickets, so we didn't think it was worth it to wait (I do love ferris wheels though), but if I come back I'll be sure to get on it next time!

I think in this case pictures will do better than words to convey what it was like, so I'll end my description here. The illumination is going on until March, so there's still lots of time to go see it if you're in Japan!

tour of tokyo

On Saturday, my supervisor took me on a mini tour of Tokyo, to places where he said he thought I wouldn't be likely to go with my friends - I was interested to find out where we'd be going, since he's a native Tokyo resident (though that sounds kind of strange, haha) - what places may not be famous but are still worth going to.

After having some ramen for lunch, we headed to our first destination, Shibamata. Apparently it's famous for being the home of Tora-san, the protagonist of the TV show and movies 'Otoko wa Tsurai Yo' (It's Tough Being A Man), which my supervisor tells me basically every Japanese person knows (I'd also heard of it before, though I've never seen it). There's even a statue of him that was erected after the death of the actor who played him, which happened to be wearing a scarf that day, haha.

Tora-san

Then we walked down some very picturesque streets that kind of reminded me of Takayama, with lots of little shops selling sweets and souvenirs, before arriving at Taishakuten Temple. What struck me the most about it was the wooden carvings on the buildings, which were very intricate and (I'm assuming) pretty old.

Monkeys!

 Since this was my first temple visit of the year, I guess that counts as my hatsumode, unless hatsumode is supposed to be done at a shrine (I have no idea, oops). At any rate, I drew an omikuji, or a paper fortune, which turned out to be the one with the most luck! Apparently work, romance, health, and everything else should go well for me this year, which is super exciting (although now that I think about it I am not sure where I put it...hope that doesn't change things, haha).

Taishakuten Temple

I had never noticed how this building is a mug of beer until my supervisor pointed it out to me!

Next we went to Asakusa, where we went on a boat ride! In Japanese it was a suijou basu, or water bus (it was definitely a boat though), but the fliers say Tokyo Cruise in English. We went along the Sumida(gawa?) River, which goes into Tokyo Bay and has a lot of bridges (we went under 13!). I was impressed because my supervisor knew most of their names and which train lines happened to cross some of them.

Managed to take a picture just as a train was coming!

We got off at Hama-rikyu Gardens, which was a really gorgeous park that apparently used to be the family garden of the Tokugawa Shogun as well as a palace garden for the Imperial family after the Meiji Restoration. It was very peaceful and pretty even in winter, which means in spring it must be really beautiful. We stopped and had tea at a teahouse there while looking out at the saltwater lake nearby, which was very relaxing. I'd love to go back there once it gets warm and flowers bloom!

Nature amidst the metropolis

After that we went back to my supervisor's place for dinner! I got to meet his family, which was great (his little boy is adorable!), and I had a really good time chatting and having dinner with them. All in all, it was a fun and excellent day. :)

Tokyo Sky Tree!

kimono beauty

At the beginning of the month, I received an invitation to the opening reception for the latest exhibit at the Chiba City Museum of Art, Kimono Beauty! Since it seemed silly to go to the opening reception without having seen the exhibit (though actually I think a lot of people at the reception went to see it right after, since the museum is open late on Fridays), I took off work a little bit early to go check it out.

As you may be able to guess from the name, the main focus of the exhibit was kimonos from the middle of the Edo Period (1603-1867) to the beginning of Showa Era (1926-1989). Some of them actually came from the collection of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, donated by an American named William Sturgess Bigelow in the early 1900s, which I found somewhat ironic but also pretty cool.

Anyway, the kimonos were absolutely gorgeous! Unfortunately I don't have any photographic evidence, as I forgot to bring my camera and I didn't want to bother people with the sound of my cell phone camera (because you can't silence the shutter sounds on Japanese cell phone cameras), so you'll have to just take my word for it (or go see it, if you're in Japan!). The basic kimono shape was the same, but there were all sorts of different designs, patterns, materials, and of course, colors! It was cool to see designs that weren't symmetrical or whether the details were dyed or embroidered, etc. Some of them kimonos also had what seemed like super modern colors and patterns to me, which made it easier to imagine them as something you could wear every day, like they used to.

There were also a lot of hair ornaments and accessories on display, which were also very cool and beautiful - I had a fun time trying to imagine how exactly they were used (since it wasn't always obvious to me, haha). Then they had obis (the sashes you use to tie up the kimonos) and books and paintings from those time periods, though I was running a little short on time so I didn't really have time to appreciate them fully.

Afterward I went up to the opening reception and heard a few remarks by the mayor, the assembly chairman, and a representative from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, which was pretty cool, though I had somewhere else to be later so I didn't stay too long.

Anyway, I thought it was a really great exhibit and I definitely recommend it to anybody who can go, especially since it'll only be here until the mid-February! I think I found it especially interesting because I recently signed up for kimono lessons, aka learning how to put them on, which apparently even Japanese people don't always know how to do. My first lesson is tomorrow, so that'll be exciting! :)

mochi-making in ichihara

Last Sunday, my boss invited me to his house to help make mochi for New Year's! I'd never done it before or been to Ichihara, the city next to Chiba where he lives, so it was a good chance to discover some new things.

I met up with my boss at the station, and before going to his house we took a little detour to Umizuri Kouen, a fishing place in Ichihara. I've said it before, but somehow I always forget that 1) Japan is an island and 2) Chiba City is right by the ocean, even though I live and work really close to Chiba Port - it just doesn't feel that near - so it was nice to see the ocean! It was pretty cloudy that day, but apparently when it's clear you can see Tokyo, Chiba City, and Mt. Fuji from there. Inside the facility there was also a cute little mini museum/play area with some history of the area and a giant whale, as well as a little aquarium (with only one kind of fish, haha). We went on the pier where there were a few people fishing, too.

And then we went to his house to make mochi! Traditionally mochi was made by pounding (instead of a man in the moon, in Japan they say there are rabbits making mochi), but nowadays there are handy dandy machines, so all you do is put in the mochi rice (which is different from normal rice - we ate a little bit of it with soy sauce and it was much stickier, though still delicious) and let it do its work, which is much easier. I don't think I really thought about the fact that mochi is made from rice before, so it was pretty cool to see it go from rice to a big sticky mass!

Since the machine actually made the mochi, what I was actually helping to do was to shape the mochi into blocks, so that they could cut them later to eat during New Year's (I think). After my boss's wife skillfully grabbed the mochi out of the machine (which was constantly rotating), she split it into pieces and we flattened it out into rectangles. It was pretty hot but we covered our hands in some sort of starch, so it wasn't too bad. In the end we also formed them into little round cakes, which I guess is a little easier to store. I enjoyed shaping the mochi, since I'd never done it before, though they kept telling me it was hard to believe it was my first time (though they were probably just saying that to be nice, haha).

After that we had some of the mochi for lunch! Up until now I've only had mochi (a kind of sticky rice cake) in desserts, like mochi ice cream or mochi with red bean paste, so I didn't realize that actually mochi itself isn't sweet at all, but I guess that's what makes it so versatile: for lunch we had it with kinako (a kind of sweet powder), red bean paste, and grated daikon with soy sauce! I even had it the next day (because they were kind enough to give me some to take home) in pizza form - easy to make with a microwave, pizza sauce, and cheese, and super tasty!

Anyway, I'm really glad to have had the chance to help them make mochi, since that's definitely not an experience I would get on my own, and I enjoyed it a lot! :)