After teaching 18 different first-year classes at two Japanese high schools over the course of this past year, I've noticed a few trends that I'd like to share with you all.
Disclaimer: This is based on my experiences as an ALT while teaching at one regular and one technical high school. If you are an ALT, the extent to which this is similar to your situation will be based on the location you are placed and the level of students that you teach. To any Japanese people reading my blog, I don't mean to offend anyone by what is written below. I simply intend to record my experiences for cultural exchange purposes, such that other ALTs can compare/contrast these students to their own experiences with other Japanese high school students or such that other family members and friends back home can compare/contrast these students with typical American ones.
Without further ado...
7 Typical Japanese High School First-Year Students
1. The 2 students in the front row who stare at me the entire lesson
As much as I want them to participate, they never do! I try to give them the benefit of doubt; they may actually be good students. However, this doesn't exactly show in the oral communication class, since they really don't do much other than just sit there and awkwardly stare at me or at their own desks. If they're girls, they sometimes giggle at me...
I often wonder what they're giggling about...
2. The sleeper
There's at least one in every class that I've taught, no matter what time of day or what events have been planned that week. I've heard that most JTEs tend to let them sleep, thinking that they're tired from late-night studying, although mine try to wake them up. With the exception of my visit school JTE, they have very little success with this endeavor.
Some students are such great sleepers that I think I'm more familiar with the top of their heads than their actual faces. Quite impressive...
3. The "yeah, yeah, ok, ok" student
I finish explaining the activity. My JTE makes sure everyone understands, and then the activity begins. I walk around, monitoring to make sure everything's running smoothly. Everyone seems to be doing well...until I come across this student, who is casually talking with (aka: distracting) his or her friends. I smile. Maybe they don't understand?
I begin to explain the activity (again) and try to get him/her to participate. After every sentence I utter, he/she looks at me straight in the eye and confidently says "Yeah, yeah! Ok, ok!" while giving me an ever-so-condescending shoulder-shrug or hand wave.
Oh...so they don't understand AND, better yet, they don't care! :/
Unless the JTE comes around and forces them to do the activity, I've had a 0% success rate in trying to get these little turds to do anything productive. Often times, I'm forced to move on and monitor Student #4, the polar opposite of Student #3.
4. The 5 students who actually raise their hands
These are my best students. Even if their favorite subject isn't English, these students are usually the best in their class...and for good reason. They're the ones who actually try to understand my lecture despite whatever cacophony is erupting around them. When a lesson goes badly or there is poor classroom management, I can always count on these guys to pay attention.
They're absolute godsends in the 50 minute class. I take some solace in the fact that that there are at least some students that I may be making an impact on.
5. The class clown
These students can be annoying, but they mean no harm. These poor students are usually hated by my JTEs since they typically score the worst on the grammar tests. However, I tend to enjoy being around these students because they're very lively, funny, creative, and, more often than not, these students are typically some of the better conversationalists in the class. Maybe they learn a lot from making fun of me and the JTE all the time?
While they may not start out on task, unlike Student #3, these students might actually attempt my activities if prodded to do so (or if candy is offered as an incentive). If the activity is fun or interesting, they will get really into it, making everyone around them laugh with their wacky answers. They have the potential to be motivational forces to be reckoned with in the classroom.
If they start to get off-track though...it can be really tough to regain control of the class.
6. The "I LOVE YOU" student
These ones are very, very similar to Student #1. I sometimes hear love professions when they enter or exit the class, or during various parts of the class...often for no reason at all. These students will tell me that I'm cute every chance they get. What players! The raging hormones are probably to blame...haha Anyways, as creepy as these sudden outbursts may be at times, they can be huge mood-boosters if I'm ever having a bad day. I'll take what I can get in order to push through the work-day! :P
Sidenote: These student could be a combination of Student #1, Student #4, and/or Student #5.
7. The silent one
The completely silent students are, admittedly, one of the rarer specimens of the bunch (at least at my high schools). There are many variants of this one, ranging from shy, but suggestible (meaning that they may volunteer answers from time to time) to others who will give me the cold shoulder. Some won't lift a finger to complete any worksheets in class. Others, even if I commit one of the deadly sins in the high school oral communication classroom and try to help them in Japanese...
...still...nothing...
Maybe these guys have vendettas against English? Maybe they're just shy? Maybe they have some sort of a learning or speech impediment? Maybe they hate my guts. I guess I'll never know because they won't talk to me.
Honorable Mention
Most of my students just come into class, do what they need to do, and leave when the bell rings. While not particularly memorable as individuals, the class as a whole (these ones and all the other special students above) come together to create the "class atmosphere", or "funiki". The group tends to be favored over the individual in Japanese culture, and the classroom is no different. The class atmosphere is crucial factor in how students will individually act. If the class atmosphere is dead, you can forget about anyone raising their hand, even if they are a Student #4. If the atmosphere is loud and crazy, even normally quiet students can turn into Student #3's.
Anyways, that's all I've got for today! Thanks for reading! Please comment below if you have any questions, similar students/experiences, complaints, or have other students that you'd like to share about! :)
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Last Classes at Komako
I finally taught my last 1年生 classes at Komako yesterday.
If you had asked me one year ago if I would miss my visit school when I leave, I would've said confidently, "Not at all." With the exception of a few excellent students, most of the 1年生students last year didn't respect me at all: they never listened, they talked to their neighbors all throughout class, they played games or texted in class, and didn't lift a finger for any of the activities. Worse yet, the classroom management for two of the classes was awful; my JTE didn't like to help out and rarely did anything other than yell at the kids. His English wasn't much better than theirs, so explaining activities was rather difficult at times. I dreaded each and every Tuesday I went to Komako. Poor Ryan often faced the brunt of my venting after classes, whether it be on Skype or Google chat. It was almost apparent by the final class that I wanted nothing to do with them anymore.
Thankfully, this year was completely different for two reasons:
1. I ended up teaching all of my Komako classes with my caretaker, Oshima-sensei. She, unlike the other JTE I worked with, genuinely wants students to understand the activities. We often moved at a slower pace than last year because of this, but the students got so much more out of classes this year. She is also one of the few JTEs I've seen to have such great classroom management. If the class was in an uproar, we waited until everyone was paying attention...and even the loudest class would be silent when we needed their full attention. She woke sleeping students up and disciplined students who played games or texted during class. The students respect her as a teacher, and I benefited as an ALT so much because of this. Largely due to her experience, I was able to teach these kids to my best ability. Thanks to her wisdom and kindness, I learned so much! :]
2. The 1年生 that I met this year were very welcoming of me from the beginning of my classes to the very end. That's not to say that they didn't have their faults... They were still as rowdy, as perverted, and as averse to studying as the students last year were, but I did my best to improve upon last years lessons. This year, I created lessons that studied particular grammar points, but were heavily game-based. This entire time, they thought they were playing games rather than actually studying English. Sneaking in English-speaking time like a ninja really worked out for me~ ;)
For the most part, they ended up being pretty bright and motivated students. Once they learned to express opinions and give advice, I found that they were more creative than most of the students at my base school, a supposedly higher-level school!
For example, I asked my students: "Which do you like better: money or friends?"
One student replied: "I like money better because I don't need friends!"
These kids surprise me all the time! In fact, yesterday, my JTE asked the class representative of each class to make a speech (without my knowledge of it). She told him that it could be in Japanese or English, but one class rep wrote it entirely in English and presented it at the end of class! It was very heartfelt, meaningful, and...perhaps even better than the one I wrote in 5 minutes for the students at Akaho. ^^; Even in the ones entirely in Japanese, I almost started tearing up, especially during the last class rep's speech when he said:
「クリスティン先生のおかげで毎週の月曜日に楽しみにしてた。」
("Thanks to Kristin-sensei, I looked forward to every Monday.")
I thought back to all the times I dragged myself to Tuesday classes at Komako. I thought back to all of the frustrating times during awful classes where the clock just wouldn't pass time fast enough. Somehow, without my knowing, the exact opposite had come true this year. Like the student above, I looked forward to the start of each week. I began looking forward to calling on a plethora of volunteers and watching students try their best to answer a question, even if their answers were riddled with mistakes. Everyone (who wasn't sleeping or not paying attention) smiled and had fun. There just didn't seem like there was ever enough time to fit all of the fun activities into one class.
I saw shy students start to offer answers. I saw students who never payed attention when I first met them become super invested in the games that we played. Even the few girl students were starting to warm up to me outside of class and offer answers in class!
These kids may never use English in their semi-rural lives...but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to touch their lives, even if only a little. I hope I left them with many good memories of English oral communication classes and a good impression of American culture.
Thanks for a wonderful half-year, Komako. I really am gonna miss you guys. ; ____ ;
If you had asked me one year ago if I would miss my visit school when I leave, I would've said confidently, "Not at all." With the exception of a few excellent students, most of the 1年生students last year didn't respect me at all: they never listened, they talked to their neighbors all throughout class, they played games or texted in class, and didn't lift a finger for any of the activities. Worse yet, the classroom management for two of the classes was awful; my JTE didn't like to help out and rarely did anything other than yell at the kids. His English wasn't much better than theirs, so explaining activities was rather difficult at times. I dreaded each and every Tuesday I went to Komako. Poor Ryan often faced the brunt of my venting after classes, whether it be on Skype or Google chat. It was almost apparent by the final class that I wanted nothing to do with them anymore.
Thankfully, this year was completely different for two reasons:
1. I ended up teaching all of my Komako classes with my caretaker, Oshima-sensei. She, unlike the other JTE I worked with, genuinely wants students to understand the activities. We often moved at a slower pace than last year because of this, but the students got so much more out of classes this year. She is also one of the few JTEs I've seen to have such great classroom management. If the class was in an uproar, we waited until everyone was paying attention...and even the loudest class would be silent when we needed their full attention. She woke sleeping students up and disciplined students who played games or texted during class. The students respect her as a teacher, and I benefited as an ALT so much because of this. Largely due to her experience, I was able to teach these kids to my best ability. Thanks to her wisdom and kindness, I learned so much! :]
2. The 1年生 that I met this year were very welcoming of me from the beginning of my classes to the very end. That's not to say that they didn't have their faults... They were still as rowdy, as perverted, and as averse to studying as the students last year were, but I did my best to improve upon last years lessons. This year, I created lessons that studied particular grammar points, but were heavily game-based. This entire time, they thought they were playing games rather than actually studying English. Sneaking in English-speaking time like a ninja really worked out for me~ ;)
For the most part, they ended up being pretty bright and motivated students. Once they learned to express opinions and give advice, I found that they were more creative than most of the students at my base school, a supposedly higher-level school!
For example, I asked my students: "Which do you like better: money or friends?"
One student replied: "I like money better because I don't need friends!"
These kids surprise me all the time! In fact, yesterday, my JTE asked the class representative of each class to make a speech (without my knowledge of it). She told him that it could be in Japanese or English, but one class rep wrote it entirely in English and presented it at the end of class! It was very heartfelt, meaningful, and...perhaps even better than the one I wrote in 5 minutes for the students at Akaho. ^^; Even in the ones entirely in Japanese, I almost started tearing up, especially during the last class rep's speech when he said:
「クリスティン先生のおかげで毎週の月曜日に楽しみにしてた。」
("Thanks to Kristin-sensei, I looked forward to every Monday.")
I thought back to all the times I dragged myself to Tuesday classes at Komako. I thought back to all of the frustrating times during awful classes where the clock just wouldn't pass time fast enough. Somehow, without my knowing, the exact opposite had come true this year. Like the student above, I looked forward to the start of each week. I began looking forward to calling on a plethora of volunteers and watching students try their best to answer a question, even if their answers were riddled with mistakes. Everyone (who wasn't sleeping or not paying attention) smiled and had fun. There just didn't seem like there was ever enough time to fit all of the fun activities into one class.
I saw shy students start to offer answers. I saw students who never payed attention when I first met them become super invested in the games that we played. Even the few girl students were starting to warm up to me outside of class and offer answers in class!
These kids may never use English in their semi-rural lives...but I'm glad that I had the opportunity to touch their lives, even if only a little. I hope I left them with many good memories of English oral communication classes and a good impression of American culture.
Thanks for a wonderful half-year, Komako. I really am gonna miss you guys. ; ____ ;
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
Farewell Speeches
My time in Komagane is finally coming to an end. Because of this, my caretakers have requested that I prepare farewell speeches to give to both the students and the staff at each school.
My caretaker at Komako told me to write a long speech to the students, explaining where I'm going after leaving, saying thank you and goodbye, and encouraging the students to keep studying English. I wrote it, rehearsed it many times, and managed to say it in intelligible Japanese in front of all the students at an assembly two Fridays ago. Even though I was really, really nervous, hearing my students and fellow teachers laugh during funny parts of my speech helped me get through it. There was a long round of applause after I concluded my speech and exited the gym.
After my speech, there was quite a bit of confusion. This farewell speech was given rather early: I still had two more classes to teach to my 1年生 before I'd officially leave. Many of my students thought that my farewell speech was the last time that they'd see me, so they were really confused when I came back to school the following Monday. ...Happy, but confused! After explaining my situation to the students, they laughed and the mood lightened up, much to my delight.
My farewell speech at Akaho, however, was not as well prepared as the one I gave at Komako. My caretaker had mentioned in passing about a month ago that I should start thinking about writing farewell speeches for both the students and the faculty; the length was to be the opposite of the one at Komako: the shorter the speech, the better. She told me that it could be in English or Japanese, and that the date for the speech to the students had yet to be determined. She said she'd let me know in advance the date and time that I'd give my speech to the students.
I'm not sure if she forgot or what, because, last Friday, when I arrived at school, my caretaker noticed I came in and ran over to me.
Caretaker: You're giving your speech to the students right now!
Me: WHAT?!
Caretaker: Yes, in ten minutes!
Completely mentally-unprepared, I then had to scramble to write up a speech. I'm glad I had already given a speech at Komako, so I hurriedly wrote a shorter summary of what I said during that farewell speech. Thank goodness I had begun to write it in Japanese, because, in the middle of writing it, my caretaker requested that I deliver the speech in Japanese, as she wouldn't be able to translate for me.
Five minutes later, I found myself on stage, flustered, delivering a somewhat meaningful, yet half-assed speech in Japanese to my base school students at the opening ceremony of their school festival.
This...wasn't quite how I imagined that I'd be wrapping things up at my base school, the school that I had visited the most over the course of my year here in Komagane...
To add insult to injury, they made me to go up on stage with the rest of the teachers to sing a song in Japanese in front of all of the students. Normally, this wouldn't have been too bad, but after being stressed out since the morning started, the very last thing I wanted to do was sing. I just wanted to be alone to recompose myself, but I sucked it up and sang. One teacher was kind enough to share her music sheet with me. Thankfully, it was written entirely in hiragana, the simplest Japanese writing system. I was wary at first, but became pleasantly surprised when I realized that I can still read music decently!
Anyways, I guess I'm 1 for 2 in these farewell speeches. I do have a chance to redeem myself, since the next two speeches to the faculties at each school are already planned and the dates are saved in my calendar! I should be able to do just fine in those. Wish me luck! :)
Thanks for reading...next up is about my last class with my 1年生 at Komako!
P.S. Speaking of 1年生, I still have 2 more classes with my 1年生 at Akaho too! I suppose that I'm going to end up with some confused students at school tomorrow... Explaining that I'm not leaving quite yet to 6 different classes again is gonna be fun...
My caretaker at Komako told me to write a long speech to the students, explaining where I'm going after leaving, saying thank you and goodbye, and encouraging the students to keep studying English. I wrote it, rehearsed it many times, and managed to say it in intelligible Japanese in front of all the students at an assembly two Fridays ago. Even though I was really, really nervous, hearing my students and fellow teachers laugh during funny parts of my speech helped me get through it. There was a long round of applause after I concluded my speech and exited the gym.
After my speech, there was quite a bit of confusion. This farewell speech was given rather early: I still had two more classes to teach to my 1年生 before I'd officially leave. Many of my students thought that my farewell speech was the last time that they'd see me, so they were really confused when I came back to school the following Monday. ...Happy, but confused! After explaining my situation to the students, they laughed and the mood lightened up, much to my delight.
My farewell speech at Akaho, however, was not as well prepared as the one I gave at Komako. My caretaker had mentioned in passing about a month ago that I should start thinking about writing farewell speeches for both the students and the faculty; the length was to be the opposite of the one at Komako: the shorter the speech, the better. She told me that it could be in English or Japanese, and that the date for the speech to the students had yet to be determined. She said she'd let me know in advance the date and time that I'd give my speech to the students.
I'm not sure if she forgot or what, because, last Friday, when I arrived at school, my caretaker noticed I came in and ran over to me.
Caretaker: You're giving your speech to the students right now!
Me: WHAT?!
Caretaker: Yes, in ten minutes!
Completely mentally-unprepared, I then had to scramble to write up a speech. I'm glad I had already given a speech at Komako, so I hurriedly wrote a shorter summary of what I said during that farewell speech. Thank goodness I had begun to write it in Japanese, because, in the middle of writing it, my caretaker requested that I deliver the speech in Japanese, as she wouldn't be able to translate for me.
Five minutes later, I found myself on stage, flustered, delivering a somewhat meaningful, yet half-assed speech in Japanese to my base school students at the opening ceremony of their school festival.
This...wasn't quite how I imagined that I'd be wrapping things up at my base school, the school that I had visited the most over the course of my year here in Komagane...
To add insult to injury, they made me to go up on stage with the rest of the teachers to sing a song in Japanese in front of all of the students. Normally, this wouldn't have been too bad, but after being stressed out since the morning started, the very last thing I wanted to do was sing. I just wanted to be alone to recompose myself, but I sucked it up and sang. One teacher was kind enough to share her music sheet with me. Thankfully, it was written entirely in hiragana, the simplest Japanese writing system. I was wary at first, but became pleasantly surprised when I realized that I can still read music decently!
Anyways, I guess I'm 1 for 2 in these farewell speeches. I do have a chance to redeem myself, since the next two speeches to the faculties at each school are already planned and the dates are saved in my calendar! I should be able to do just fine in those. Wish me luck! :)
Thanks for reading...next up is about my last class with my 1年生 at Komako!
P.S. Speaking of 1年生, I still have 2 more classes with my 1年生 at Akaho too! I suppose that I'm going to end up with some confused students at school tomorrow... Explaining that I'm not leaving quite yet to 6 different classes again is gonna be fun...
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Golden Week (Part 3)
Places Highlights
1. Kabushima Seagull Shrine
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| I've had enough encounters with these guys from this trip alone to last an entire lifetime... |
Japanese people tend to put shrines in places where naturally occurring phenomena take place. So, of course, they had to come to Kabushima Island and place a shrine in the area I like to call "Seagull Hell". I thought my middle school was infested with these guys, but I was sorely mistaken. Surprisingly, I entered and left this place unscathed, but Ryan and Kevin were blessed/targeted by the sacred seagulls: Kevin, on the back of his jacket and, poor Ryan, smack dab on his face. It was an interesting place to visit, but I'm definitely not returning any time soon.
2. Yagen Valley/Shimokita Peninsula
Our second trip to Eastern Aomori entailed going to the Shimokita Peninsula. Our main reason for going was to see Osorezan, one of the Oshu Sanreijou, considered the three holiest places in all of Tohoku. In case you were wondering, the other two places are called Dewa Sanzan (Yamagata Prefecture) and Kinkasan (Miyagi Prefecture).
Osorezan, literally Fear/Dread Mountain, is fabled to be the Buddist 'Gateway to Hell', where departed souls pass on their way to the underworld. It's totally understandable where they get these ideas from: the nearby Lake Usoriyama is too poisonous/sulfurous to swim in or drink (even the smell is quite atrocious...it's very similar to bad eggs); a yellow river (due to sulfur) believed to be a representation of the Sanzu River in Japanese mythology (considered to be the equivalent of the River Styx); and there are piles of rocks and Jizo statues everywhere that pay homage to the souls of children who have passed on before their parents.
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| The black-ish colored Lake Usoriyama |
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| The bridge over the Sanzu River |
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| Jizo statues |
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| The Main Temple area, which we paid 500円 to enter and explore around |
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| A panoramic view of the lake, temple, and rocky landscape |
3. Yagensou Ryokan
After our long hiking adventure through Osorezan, we drove on over to the small ryokan (traditional Japanese-style hotel) where we stayed for the night. The super friendly owner invited us in and we had some tea and wagashi (Japanese sweets) while (mostly) Ryan chatted with her. She told us that we had about an hour before dinner was ready, so we hung out at a nearby onsen to kill some time.
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| Yagensou (outside) |
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| My side of the onsen |
When we got back, dinner was served~! Aaaaand it was a FEAST. Both dinner and breakfast were phenomenal. To top it off, we ate the meals in yukata, completing the Japanese dining experience :] I'd totally recommend this place to anyone who wants to visit the area!
4. Wild Horses near the Shiriyazaki Lighthouse
After our trip to Ouma, we visited Cape Shiriyazaki, where wild horses (called kandachime) roam the pastures near the lighthouse, grazing for food. They are quite the gentle giants. You could even get close enough to pet them! They aren't scary at all, but I was nervous to touch them because, had they decided to attack me, it would have been GAME OVER, considering those beastly muscles of theirs...
Food Highlights
1. Matabe Ramen
On our first trip west towards Hachinohe, we had lunch at Matabei Ramen. This place gets very crowded around lunch-time because of their tasty, cheap ramen. In fact, I think they only have that one ramen on their menu! However, you can decide the size of the bowl: medium, large, or extra-large.
I'm glad we got there early...it seemed like we got there just before the afternoon lunch rush! We were seated and served very quickly. The fishy shoyu soup was a bit much for Kevin, but everyone else really loved it. On the bottom of each bowl, "マタベイ！" is written, which means "See you again!" in Tsugaru dialect. How cute! :]
2. Milkshakes
After our trip to Matabe, we stopped by a small rest stop (みちのこ) that's popular for their milkshakes. Maybe it's because I haven't had a milkshake since I left the states, but these shakes tasted so good! I got a strawberry chocolate shake and Ryan ordered a coffee-flavored one. They were reminiscent of In-N-Out milkshakes: rich, thick, and delicious! At first, I thought it was a bit small for the price (~￥400), but it ended up being the perfect sized dessert after lunch.
3. Okonomiyaki
On our way back from Seagull Land, we decided to hit up Doutonbori, a chain okonomiyaki/monjayaki restaurant that greets all guests loudly with an "Irasshaimasei! Pon-poko-po~n" when you enter and a "pon-poko-po~n!" whenever you finish ordering something! Quite adorable and incredibly catchy...
Okonomiyaki is one of the famous street-food specialties of the Osaka region. In particular, there's an area in Shinsaibashi, Osaka, called Dotonbori, the eponymous street which this restaurant is named after. Okonomiyaki is often referred to as "Japanese pizza". As the name implies ("okonomi" means "what you like" and "yaki" means "grilled/baked"), there are many flavors and toppings that you can put on/in it! Monjayaki is pretty much the same thing as okonomiyaki, but with a more liquidy batter. We grilled up 4 different kinds of food...and by the end of the night, we left full and happy.
4. Ouma Maguro
On our Shimokita Peninsula trip, we stopped by Ouma, a town famous for its tuna-fishing. Some of the tuna caught here have been sold for 30,000,000 yen ($300,000). The most expensive tuna from this area has sold for 350,000,000 yen, which is 3.5 million dollars! That had better be some godly tuna!!! Anyways, we just had to try out some of this town's famed tuna for ourselves. Ryan and I ordered a tuna bowl featuring some cuts of medium-fat tuna and high-fat tuna. Kevin went with some tuna curry! It was expensive, but well worth it. It just melted in my mouth...~
5. Gyoza
For my last meal in Aomori before heading back to Nagano, Ryan took us to a little gyoza shop near Aomori Station. Even though it was pretty small, it had a very homey feel to it: the waitresses were really friendly, the gyoza was crispy and flavorful, and the drunk guy who sat next to us seemed super excited to have the opportunity to chat with us. He even bought a drink for Kevin~
So concludes my long-overdue trilogy of posts about our awesome Golden Week Vacation. Hopefully I'll have a few more blog posts out before our upcoming trip to Hakone and Kansai! Thanks for reading!
Other Notable Highlights of the GW Trip Pt.3
1. Getting nokedon at the start of the trip. Nokedon is always, always, always going to be a highlight for me. ^__^
2. Getting 20 apples for 300 yen in Asamushi Onsen
3. Seeing Ryan get embarrassed over his students getting excited that I was there with him at the hanami festival in Gappo Park
4. Almost dying because an idiot driving a black car decided to make a 3 point turn on an unlit highway at night...
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| Dinner at the Ryokan (there is mushroom soup (10 different kinds of wild mushrooms), grilled fish, cantalope [which the Japanese simply call "melon"], mountain vegetables, sashimi, clam, ginger, salad, and soup) |
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| Breakfast at the Ryokan (a pot that has a steamed egg and ham inside, grilled fish, a tangerine, a super goopy food called nagaimo, squid sashimi, a yogurt drink, seaweed, picked cucumber, picked eggplant, and pickled plum, and miso soup) |
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| Yagensou (inside) After the meal, a happy and full Ryan napped on my lap. |
4. Wild Horses near the Shiriyazaki Lighthouse
After our trip to Ouma, we visited Cape Shiriyazaki, where wild horses (called kandachime) roam the pastures near the lighthouse, grazing for food. They are quite the gentle giants. You could even get close enough to pet them! They aren't scary at all, but I was nervous to touch them because, had they decided to attack me, it would have been GAME OVER, considering those beastly muscles of theirs...
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| Doesn't look that big here, but the video below will help give you a better idea of the size of these guys... |
Food Highlights
1. Matabe Ramen
On our first trip west towards Hachinohe, we had lunch at Matabei Ramen. This place gets very crowded around lunch-time because of their tasty, cheap ramen. In fact, I think they only have that one ramen on their menu! However, you can decide the size of the bowl: medium, large, or extra-large.
I'm glad we got there early...it seemed like we got there just before the afternoon lunch rush! We were seated and served very quickly. The fishy shoyu soup was a bit much for Kevin, but everyone else really loved it. On the bottom of each bowl, "マタベイ！" is written, which means "See you again!" in Tsugaru dialect. How cute! :]
2. Milkshakes
After our trip to Matabe, we stopped by a small rest stop (みちのこ) that's popular for their milkshakes. Maybe it's because I haven't had a milkshake since I left the states, but these shakes tasted so good! I got a strawberry chocolate shake and Ryan ordered a coffee-flavored one. They were reminiscent of In-N-Out milkshakes: rich, thick, and delicious! At first, I thought it was a bit small for the price (~￥400), but it ended up being the perfect sized dessert after lunch.
| Not my picture/shake, but this shows the shake size and has the shop in the background (the red signs) |
3. Okonomiyaki
On our way back from Seagull Land, we decided to hit up Doutonbori, a chain okonomiyaki/monjayaki restaurant that greets all guests loudly with an "Irasshaimasei! Pon-poko-po~n" when you enter and a "pon-poko-po~n!" whenever you finish ordering something! Quite adorable and incredibly catchy...
Okonomiyaki is one of the famous street-food specialties of the Osaka region. In particular, there's an area in Shinsaibashi, Osaka, called Dotonbori, the eponymous street which this restaurant is named after. Okonomiyaki is often referred to as "Japanese pizza". As the name implies ("okonomi" means "what you like" and "yaki" means "grilled/baked"), there are many flavors and toppings that you can put on/in it! Monjayaki is pretty much the same thing as okonomiyaki, but with a more liquidy batter. We grilled up 4 different kinds of food...and by the end of the night, we left full and happy.
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| Waiting eagerly in anticipation for the okonomiyaki to finish cooking... |
4. Ouma Maguro
On our Shimokita Peninsula trip, we stopped by Ouma, a town famous for its tuna-fishing. Some of the tuna caught here have been sold for 30,000,000 yen ($300,000). The most expensive tuna from this area has sold for 350,000,000 yen, which is 3.5 million dollars! That had better be some godly tuna!!! Anyways, we just had to try out some of this town's famed tuna for ourselves. Ryan and I ordered a tuna bowl featuring some cuts of medium-fat tuna and high-fat tuna. Kevin went with some tuna curry! It was expensive, but well worth it. It just melted in my mouth...~
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| Delicious, delicious fatty tuna~ |
5. Gyoza
For my last meal in Aomori before heading back to Nagano, Ryan took us to a little gyoza shop near Aomori Station. Even though it was pretty small, it had a very homey feel to it: the waitresses were really friendly, the gyoza was crispy and flavorful, and the drunk guy who sat next to us seemed super excited to have the opportunity to chat with us. He even bought a drink for Kevin~
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| Miso-flavored gyoza and black-colored gyoza |
So concludes my long-overdue trilogy of posts about our awesome Golden Week Vacation. Hopefully I'll have a few more blog posts out before our upcoming trip to Hakone and Kansai! Thanks for reading!
Other Notable Highlights of the GW Trip Pt.3
1. Getting nokedon at the start of the trip. Nokedon is always, always, always going to be a highlight for me. ^__^
2. Getting 20 apples for 300 yen in Asamushi Onsen
3. Seeing Ryan get embarrassed over his students getting excited that I was there with him at the hanami festival in Gappo Park
4. Almost dying because an idiot driving a black car decided to make a 3 point turn on an unlit highway at night...
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