Towards the end of August, I was getting settled into life in Kumamoto City. I was calling home less and I was getting to know the area pretty well. Shop owners were recognizing the new foreigner and I was feeling like a community was sprouting up around me.
Little was required of me at school that I was able to go out and get acquainted with the city until late at night, and show up to school the next day in whatever condition I could muster. Most of my days were filled with searching through the treasure that was left behind for me from the previous JETs. My desk was a pinata of candy, stickers, dice, hourglasses, and any number of other items. The books left behind were helpful in giving me an idea of what to expect to teach during the coming year. There were three or four different sets of information from ALT's, who, subsequently, were from different cultures and backgrounds. One of the binders had lessons divided into alphabetical order, obviously this JET was more anal than others. Another JET had some random lesson plans with worksheets, but the worksheets didn't go with any of the plans. My predecessor, a nice guy, was more like myself in his methods of planning, had a binder with plastic sheets stuffed with cut out pictures and partial lessons that were never finished, many of his own construction.
After wading through the various types of information trying to figure which, if any, would best serve my needs, I would spend a lot of time on the internet. Even though I could not visit my social networking sites, I was able to check my mail and look at news sites. I usually check around 10 different sites for news, because you can't really trust any news source anymore. I look at both domestic and international sites. Election news and economic news was difficult to read for me, because it made me go through the multitude of reasons for my exodus. I was able to stay in communication with my family and friends through e-mail, which was helpful yet time consuming. I spent most of my day writing e-mails.
It was during this time that I got a message on one of the 5 listservs that I belong to telling me about the Yamaga Lantern Festival that was fast approaching. The local ALT in Yamaga sent a message out inviting anybody who wanted to see their first cultural event in Japan to come for the Lantern Festival. Still apprehensive about getting around by train and bus I didn't respond. Another ALT, from Kumamoto, did respond to the listserv, asking if anybody wanted to go to the festival. I responded, and we coordinated a time to meet at the international center. There were 5 JETs who were all thinking about attending the event, but when Saturday came only two of us showed up at the international center.
Holly is from New Jersey. I met her one day while riding my bike home from school. She lives on the route to my school. I remember talking to her a little in Tokyo before coming to Kumamoto. I didn't know she was the girl who sent out the e-mail coordinating our trip to Yamaga, because I am really awful with names.
We left from the international center, which is only a few blocks from the main bus terminal in Kumamoto City. Luckily, she knows a little Japanese, which helped in the purchase of our tickets. We talked at the station, not knowing whether we were going on the right bus, but we were excited to get out of the city. She had found a map of the area of Yamaga. It was all in Japanese, and she didn't know exactly what it said. Most proper nouns in Japanese are written in Kanji and since the Kanji have a multitude of meanings it can be very confusing.
We spoke a lot on the bus. We chatted about many different things. She majored in communications at Rutgers and she knew a lot about music, video games, and comics. In Kumamoto City it was overcast and it had not rained all day, but on the bus ride to Yamaga it started to rain. When we got to Yamaga it was only sprinkling, but the rain was the least of our worries because now we had to figure out how to get to the festival grounds. Luckily, I am pretty good at reading maps and Holly can read some Japanese. She told me where the bus terminal was on the map, our starting point, and then she pointed to the festival grounds. Problem #2: Japanese streets aren't linear and in most cases aren't numbered or named. The main streets usually have a number, but unlike America there isn't a sign on ever corner. I found the main street and we started down that street. We started to see some things being set up and others being taken down. We started to worry that the festival had been canceled on account of rain. We kept walking and walking but did not come to anything that looked like it would host a large festival.
Holly brought her phone and the e-mail with the number for the ALT in Yamaga. She spoke with him and we found out that the festival had been canceled, but there would still be some activities. The main show, which is a few hundred un-wed woman dancing with lanterns on their heads, was canceled. Stephen, an ALT from Australia, said that he would meet us in town and we attempted to give him an estimate as to where we were in Yamaga. She an I were standing under a yellow awning, across from a large Japanese house that had a large spillway running beside it. Stephen gave us an estimate of about ten minutes.
As we waited, we started to realize that we were in one of those towns that, as a JET, you hear about often. Both Holly and I are from the city, which means that, even though we get our share of stares and glares, we are mostly left to our own devices. In Yamaga, we started to believe that we were part of the show or, at least, we had brought a new show to town.
As we stood under the awning of this tiny barber shop, tens of buses of Japanese tourists from across the country were descending upon this small town. They had most likely heard that the show had been canceled. At the cross section of this small town, we had become superstars. Old women looked out the windows of buses and witnessed two white people standing in shorts and sunglasses...talking. The women and some men even stared and watched with scientific zeal. After the first bus passed, we didn't know what to think, but as more came we did the only thing that seemed normal. We smiled and waved. Oxymoronically we stood like a couple of prom queens waving and smiling. After the first bus of pointed fingers and whispers, like good entertainers, we gave them what they wanted and what they wanted was a show.
After our 5 o'clock show, we were tired of waiting for Stephen. We started back towards where we came from and Holly called Stephen. We finally found each other and he informed us that while the main show was canceled we could do many other things. He took us to the kabuki theater in Yamaga. He then took us to a temple near the theater. Stephen knew a lot about Yamaga, and it was like we had our own tour guide to the town. He told us the history of the festival and he told us that the kabuki theater was the last theater of its kind built in Japan. Holly and I were very hungry and we became tired of the tour. We were very grateful but also very hungry, so we went to get something to eat.
Dinner was good. I ate my first basashi, which is raw horse. It is a Kumamoto specialty. After leaving, we were in better spirits and we went back to the kabuki theater which we heard was going to have a performance of the lantern dancers. When we got to the theater it was packed with people, so we decided to walk around until the line dissipated. When we got back to one of the main streets we heard music, and found that there were some groups of young girls that were performing for small groups, probably families. I was really happy to see the dancing and I was glad that I was able to see it in a less than conventional way. The girls spent a long time preparing their clothes and practicing their dance, it was really nice that they could still perform.
Holly and I got to see what we came to Yamaga for and we had a long day. We just wanted to get back to Kumamoto City. I think Stephen wanted to make a night out of the whole thing, but we needed some rest. We got back to the bus depot and waited for the next bus. There were two English-speakers at the bus stop as well, but they weren't JETs. When we got back to the city we parted ways and I got on my bike and went home. I had a good time. And even though the evening didn't turn out to be everything that it was supposed to be, it was different, which is why I am here.
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