August 7, 2005 – Pianos and parties
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan, The Penpal on August 7, 2015
In the afternoon I went to hear The Penpal play the piano at her annual recital. I went to the same recital last year, although this time I didn’t get stuck in a car with her father. The Penpal played Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata flawlessly. It is amazing to hear how talented she is!
In the evening I went to yet another farewell party (that’s two in two days for those keeping track), that started at an izakaya in Numazu, and finished with too many people jammed into a NOVA apartment at 3:00am.
Most of the NOVA teachers in the area have apartments in one building near the north side of Numazu station. My roommates and I are the exception – our building is about a 15 minute walk east from the south side of Numazu station. I was not familiar with the route back, but fortunately Azeroth was with me and he knew how to walk (stumble) back without getting lost.
With farewell parties on Saturday and Sunday evening, I am very happy with my new Sunday / Monday days off.
August 6, 2005 – Pretending to be asleep on the train
Posted by Barniferous in Drinking, Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan on August 6, 2015
The whole area is short on teachers right now, so I got stuck with 3 group kids classes. Boo!
After work I went to a farewell party at a small town near Mt. Fuji. As usual, the first party was at an izakaya where everyone filled up on beer and food. We took a short train ride to Fuji City for the second party, which was at a karaoke room we usually go to.
The last regular train back to Numazu from Fuji is at 12:15am. However, that’s not the last train. There is also a 2:30am night express train. The night express has reserved seats, and costs more than the regular Tokaido line train. We were concerned that we would have to buy seat reservations or pay extra, but one of the more experienced teachers assured us that everything was okay, and told us to just buy the standard 320 yen one way ticket.
It turns out that our strategy for beating the extra fee was to all congregate outside the washroom at the end of the train, and pretend to be sleeping. This way if a ticket checker came along, he might be reluctant to wake up a group of sleeping gaijins that smelled of beer to get us to pay the extra fee. If we had all been more sober, we probably would have felt a bit conflicted about our decision, but it was 2:30am and we wanted to go home. Fortunately we got all the way to Numazu without running into the ticket checker!
(2015 Update) There are plenty of ways to cheat Japan Rail, but that doesn’t mean you should do them*. This is how foreigners get bad reputations in Japan! Do the right thing and pay full price!
*Unless it’s an emergency
August 5, 2005 – Late Friday
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on August 5, 2015
Today was my first Friday late shift. My new schedule gives me two of the best days off: Sunday and Monday. However, I now work late shifts Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Late shift does pay a little more than early shift, but there is not a lot of options for things to do when work finishes at 9:00pm.
Fortunately I like beer and karaoke.
August 4, 2005 – Honeycomb
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 4, 2015
I now have a new CD on my “to buy” list. I just learned that Frank Black (aka Black Francis from the Pixies) has released his newest solo album, Honeycomb. I will have to do some searching to find it here. It’s not always easy to find import music in Japan, and then you have to search in Japanese alphabetical order. Frank Black can be found in the “Fu” section, for “fu-ra-n-ku bu-ra-ku”.
In the part month or so I have purchased and otherwise obtained new music from Audioslave, Rise, Guitar Wolf, Queens of the Stone Age, and others. You can’t have too much music!
August 3, 2005 – Apartment hunting
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on August 3, 2015
After work I hit the internet to do some serious apartment hunting. It has been good living with other teachers, but I really need my own place. I have never had a place of my own, and would like to take some time off from roommates.
I am looking in and around Numazu. My apartment will likely be very small and expensive, but it will be all mine! I have been saving up to pay the exorbitant fees required to get an apartment – a few months rent in advance, a landlord fee, and key money, which is just straight up profit. I will also need to get some of my own appliances. This plan will pretty much guarantee that I will be sticking around in Japan longer.
My goal is to move out in August or September.
August 1, 2005 – First day at my new school
Posted by Barniferous in Teaching English on August 1, 2015
Today was my first official day at Numazu NOVA. I have been here a few times before, usually to repay shift swaps, so it wasn’t completely new to me.
Numazu NOVA is located in a pedestrian only shopping area called Nakamise, which is just southwest of Numazu station. It is less than 10 minutes by bicycle from my apartment. The area is convenient, with lots of restaurants and stores nearby.
The branch itself is much larger than Mishima NOVA. The teacher’s room is a decent size and doesn’t feel like a converted closet. There is an employee washroom in the teacher’s room with a proper toilet, unlike Mishima NOVA which has a terrifying Japanese style squat toilet elsewhere in the building. The main floor has the sales area and teachers room, while all classrooms are upstairs.
There are exactly three inconvenient things about changing branches from Mishima to Numazu.
- I no longer have a commuter train pass since I live in Numazu. My current train pass is not nearly as useful as when I lived in Kawasaki, but it was still nice to have even a little free transportation.
- I am now further from The Penpal’s office, so we can’t meet up after work on my early shifts. My days off are much better for seeing her now, so I can’t complain too much.
- Because my schedule changed from Monday / Tuesday off to Sunday / Monday off, I only get one day off this week.
Even with these minor annoyances, I am excited about the change and the opportunity to work with some different teachers and students.
July 31, 2005 – Raw horse
Posted by Barniferous in Friends and coworkers, Life in Japan on July 31, 2015
Today was supposed to be a big double birthday party combined with watching fireworks at Numazu summer festival, however almost everybody ended up cancelling at the last minute. We ended up taking a small group to an izakaya called Uotami across from Numazu station.
The usual izakaya of choice for English teachers is Ryuu, which offers cheap beer and sushi in a no frills, tatami mat and low table environment. Uotami is a big step up on decor: upon entering you walk over a glass floor positioned above a zen rock garden. The tables are all sunken in the floor, and the booths offer a lot more privacy. The food menu is also much larger, in line with other big chains like Watami.
One of the other teachers and I noticed that the menu featured basashi, which is slices of raw horse meat (yes, horse!) served like sashimi. I had never eaten horse in any form before, so I was interested in trying. We decided to order it and not tell anyone else.
When the food arrived, we got a plate with thin slices of red meat, looking similar to some types of tuna. People started asking what kind of fish it was, and I told them to try it and let me know what they thought. We all dove in with our chopsticks.
In my opinion, raw meat isn’t nearly as good as raw fish. The meat was slightly stringy and slimy, and didn’t have the same nice flavour that raw fish does. After almost everybody had tried some, I made the big reveal that we had just eaten horse. One of the teachers thought we were joking, and another was actually pretty upset. Most of us had a pretty good laugh about it.
There are a few important lessons here:
- Don’t trick people into eating things, even if it’s funny. (well, unless it’s really really funny and you know the person well)
- Just because you enjoy raw fish doesn’t mean you will enjoy raw meat
- Some people are really upset about the idea of eating horse.
July 30, 2005 – Numazu Summer Festival
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on July 30, 2015
July 30 was the first day of Numazu festival and was Dom’s birthday as well. After work I met up with The Penpal and we went to watch fireworks with about 100,000 other people. People filled the streets and one of the major bridges over the Kano river. It was hot and crowded, but the show was amazing!
During the summer festival, the streets are lined with small food and souvenir stands. Many of the stands are run by yakuza. I am not sure why exactly the yakuza run the food stands, but I can only assume it’s a public relations stunt like when the Hell’s Angels raise money for charity. It is a unique experience buying yakisoba or ice cream from a gangster with his insane tattoos peeking out from his yukata.
After the fireworks show, the Penpal had to go home, and I stayed out to party with the other English teachers.
I would have taken pictures, but at some point I dropped my camera on the concrete and it no longer works.
July 29, 2005 – Birthday eel
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on July 29, 2015
Happy birthday to me! I celebrated my 27th birthday with The Penpal and her family. They took me out for dinner and we all ordered unadon, which is grilled eel on rice. It is a popular summer food, as Japanese people believe that eel gives you energy when it’s hot outside. It was nice to have a family birthday, even if it wasn’t my family.
I also got calls from Canada, with my mom’s annual reminder that I was 19 days overdue. I don’t think she will ever let me forget it!
July 28, 2005 – Repaying a shift swap
Posted by Barniferous in Life in Japan on July 28, 2015
I got the day off to repay working a shift swap. Laziness ensued.
Drinking in Japan 
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