The Rice Harvest

In America, most people buy their rice at the supermarket. Japanese on the other hand, LOVE their rice. They love it so much that they grow their own. If only they could grow bananas. But that is for a separate post.

My student Takayoshi invited me to a rice harvest that his family was going to. As I had never harvested rice before, I figured this it would be good for me to try. How hard could it be? When he told me that we would be leaving at 7:00 am, it should have been my first clue that it might not such an easy day.

Arriving at the fields:


The rice field. Part of it has already been harvested and the brown stalks were hung out to dry. I was told that this field was the longest in Japan, it looked to be almost 300 yards:





There was also a pond with grass in it cut to show Kanji and a fish. I don't know what it says. I am not a good student.




Cutting rice is not easy. You have to bend down and slice it with a sickle, and you have to slice 4 bunches before you can tie the stalks together. I turned out to be pretty quick at the cutting part, but I really sucked at tying the grass together. I finally just gave up on the tying and concentrated on just cutting down the rice. Another person took over the tying duties and I descended like a tornado upon the rice field. About halfway through the Mayor of the town came to help with the harvest. Apparently he comes every year. He was all decked out in coveralls and rubber boots. I guess he was kind of a big deal because everyone wanted to talk to him. He asked Takayoshi who I was and Takayoshi told him my name...with Japanese pronunciation, it is said "Jo-shu". Well, I guess that sounds almost exactly like the Japanese word for "servant or helper", so the Mayor thought I was some hired hand and that's why I was cutting down rice like a mad man. Once Takayoshi straightened him out and told him I was from California, The Mayor was very eager to talk to me. What can I say, I'm kind of a big deal.


Another view of the field:



After the harvest was over we went back to Sendai. My legs were beyond sore. It took about a week from my hamstrings to feel normal again. Harvesting rice was a very fun thing to do....once. I will now revert back to my American ways and continue buying my rice at the supermarket. I never cook anyways so it probably doesn't matter where I get my rice.

As I was working on about 3 hours of sleep and had just cut down a ton of rice, I was very tired. So when we got back to Sendai I took a nap on Takayoshi's floor. An hour later it was decided that we should go bowling. These are probably the greatest shoes I have ever seen. If they made them in regular shoes I would definitely buy them.

Banana's are missing, Josh investigates

I have not been able to buy a banana in about a month. Every time I go to the supermarket they are sold out. At first I figured there was some kind of shipping problem, but I have been three times now in the last month and the banana stand is always empty. Where are all the banana's? They are my most favorite fruit. I eat them with peanut butter as a sandwich, I eat them plain as a snack, I cut them up into little pieces and eat them with my cereal. I miss bananas.

So I did a little investigating. Apparently there is some kind of fad "Banana Diet" going around Japan where you just eat one single banana for breakfast. Then a normal lunch and dinner (before 8pm) and you are supposed to lose like 10 pounds a month. It all sounds pretty kooky to me.

One of my students proudly told me that she ordered 88 bananas from the Internet and packed them all in her freezer. Wow. A wise man once said "There is always money in the Banana Stand". I guess he was right.

Basketball Musings: The DM3P

After spending the last two nights huddled in my apartment because of a typhoon (really, there was an actual typhoon) I went down to the river because it was a gorgeous night. While I was there for some reason I started thinking about basketball. I started thinking about the Golden Rule that you need an elite low-post scorer to win it all in the NBA. But I realized that the ’08 Celtics didn’t really have one, Garnett likes to play on the elbow. Same for the Pistons in ’04, ‘Sheed had by then become more reliant on his outside shot, and wasn’t the teams focal point on offense anyways. Sure, Shaq and Duncan have won 4 titles each, but of the last 18 champions, 8 of them did not have what many would consider an “elite” post scorer. Over 44% of teams that won the title broke the Golden Rule. However, every single team in those 13 years had one thing in common, and this common thread is for some reason hardly ever discussed.

Each team since Detroit’s Bad Boy Pistons have had one key similarity: a small forward who could hit the 3 and play suffocating defense. Now if they played defense by having elite skill like Pippen or Prince, or if they just relied on thoroughly pissing off their opponent (Bruce Bowen, Rick Fox, and Mr. Hip Check, James Posey), these players were effective. All of these players were in the game for their defense, but they also all nailed the three point shot when it mattered. In the case of Pippen, the all time NBA steals record holder for a forward, he is arguably the best defender ever at his position. He was not a great three point shooter, but in the playoffs he was a reliable three point threat, even sharing the record for the most 3’s made in a finals game with 7. Pippen’s game was probably good enough for the Bulls to win without him finding his three point shot, but for the rest of this defensive minded group hitting the 3 was the essential ingredient that would enable their teams to hold the championship trophy. We will call them the DM3P’s.

So which teams this season look like they have that special ingredient that leads to champagne popping and banner rising? Let’s take a look at the contenders.


Just Quit Now: Denver Nuggets, Phoenix Suns, Portland TrailBlazers.

These teams don’t have anyone who even remotely resembles a defensive-minded, three-point shooting small forward. Carmelo, Hill, and Outlaw are all mid-range jump shooters who don’t play defense. None of these teams will go anywhere in the playoffs.


One Dimensional Wonders: Utah Jazz, Cleveland LeBrons, Toronto Raptors, Orlando Magic.

Utah has two great wing defenders in AK-47 and Ronnie Brewer. Neither one can shoot…at all.

Cleveland, Toronto, and Orlando all have small forwards who are great three point shooters. All of them are white. None of them can guard anyone. Coincidence? You decide.


The Everything Needs to Break (or not break) Right Team: Houston Rockets.

Shane Battier is the poster boy for a tough defender who can hit the 3. If he were on the Lakers last season Phil Jackson would now be sporting a ring on every one of his ten fingers. Everyone knows the problem with the Rockets. McGrady and Yao have each shown that they cannot stay healthy for a full season, and Ron Artest….well you don’t need me to tell you that he has more career suspension games than playoff games.


In the Posey Zone: Boston Celtics and New Orleans Hornets.

With the signing of James Posey, the Hornets bought themselves a proven DM3Per, who has just so happened to have won 2 of the last three titles. If Paul, West, and Chandler can stay healthy, the Hornets are a real threat to win it all this year.

By letting Posey walk, Boston had dumped an even greater load on the shoulders of the already weary Paul Pierce. Ray Allen, Sam Cassell, and even Kevin Garnett are all a year older, and something tells me that Darius Miles will not be the answer. There is a reason the DM3P’s have all been role players, and I don’t think Pierce will be able to handle all the responsibilities the Celtics are putting on him.

Too Little Too Late: Dallas Mavericks.

Josh Howard is a potential DM3Per, but nobody knows what this team is built to do. Run and gun, or grind it out and feed it to Dirk while everyone cheats off Kidd. Avery was a good coach, but when the refs decided they wanted Dwayne Wade to win the 2004 finals, they lost their window. Getting run by the Warriors might have been the death blow. Maybe Carlisle can turn things around, make their offense a bit more creative. However, barring a miracle the Mavericks’ time has most likely passed.

Tried and True: San Antonio Spurs, Detroit Pistons.

Bowen and Prince are ring-owning members of the DM3P club. The question here is age and health. Bowen is old. He definitely has lost a step, also the Lakers realized that he can only hit the three from the corner and adjusted to not allow him to get wide open looks from there. Manu’s injury also makes one assume that this is not San Antonio’s year. Prince is just now entering his prime, but the rest of the Pistons are slowly fading from the players they were four years ago. If young blood like Maxiell and Stuckey can continue to improve however, they will be scary in the playoffs.


The Potential Dynasty: Los Angeles Lakers.

Kobe. Pau. Bynum. There aren’t a better big three in the league to build around for this year and the future. However, as of now they do not have a DM3P small forward. They have all the parts, but not one complete player. They will have to either develop one of their many small forward options, or have Phil pull some Zen tricks with the matchups if there is to be another Laker banner raised in ’09. Odom will likely be the starting 3 to begin the year, but he is better as a quick 4 who can penetrate and dish, while using his huge wingspan to rebound close to the basket. Vlad can shoot. He can shoot very well. Vlad also cannot play defense. Walton showed signs of hitting the 3 last season, but also cannot play defense and is very inconsistent. Short of making a trade for Battier when Artest goes crazy and T-Mac and Yao get injured ordering a Frosty at Wendy’s, the Lakers will have to develop. This means either Trevor Ariza or Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic will have to expand their games.

Ariza is an incredibly athletic defender. He is coming off an injury, but has all the tools to be one of the best defensive small forwards in the game today. If he can simply learn to hit the corner 3, a la Bowen, he will have gained DM3P status. Still, it’s a big if, as he holds a lofty .209 career three point percentage. Yikes.

Sasha Vujacic is a Shooting Machine. He shot a ridiculous 44% from deep last year. He already has the makings of a modern day Rick Fox with his ability to annoy every living soul in the building. The long hair is an added bonus. The problem with Sasha is that he likes to shoot too much. Someone who shoots 44% from long range should be much higher than 46% from 2 point range. He needs to become more selective with his shots and concentrate more on his defense to become a true DM3per. Although it is obvious that The Machine will never put defense first, I believe he can be enough of a pest on that end for his 3 point accuracy to carry him into that most respected group of small forwards: NBA champions.

Tug of War

Last weekend there was a Tug of War festival in Sendai. Every year
about 4,000 people take part in either making the 365 meter rope, or
pulling the 365 meter rope. The rope is ENORMOUS it weighs 4 tons. It is hard to even grab and lift off the ground. I had a bunch of my friends come in from out of town, and we all had a great time. It felt good to have people come and not only see my city, but enjoy themselves while they are here. To most people Sendai is just another stop on the train, so having festivals like this is a good way for people to experience the city.

Try and guess which one is me.



Its super crazy, there are guys running around beating on drums, guys yelling through megaphones, yet everyone seems to know what they are supposed to do. There were five "matches" and the red team beat the blue team 3-2. I competed twice for the blue team (wining one and losing one) and then I had to pee. The thing about Japanese Tug of War is there are "attackers". The attackers get to try and pull people from the other team off the rope within the first 50 meters. However, what ends up happening is there is just a huge brawl in the middle as the attackers just choose to fight each other. There were guys running along the rope just hitting people on the head with flags. Crazy. There were quite a lot of yakuza there too, which was kinda cool because you always wonder if people really are yakuza, but during the tug of war you could tell which ones actually were by their tattoos.


After the match was over, there were a bunch of guys with little chainsaws cutting up the rope.



Then I tried to take the whole thing home.


I eventually managed to break off a much smaller piece.

Shortly after the 8 of us would return to my apartment and attempt to go to sleep for the night. However, due to the juvinile state of one British man in particular, there was not a lot of sleep to be had. Somehow I was transported back in time to jr. high summer camp, complete with fart jokes and random utterences of "Your Mom!". I guess 4,000 people tugging on a rope for two hours will bring out the kid in all of us.

Settling in

The first few days in Sendai I just kind of walked around a bit. There are just over 100,000 people here, but it is really spread out, and there isn't much exciting to do. So I guess its like a small Fresno. My apartment couldn't be in a better location. I am about a 5 minute walk from what little "downtown" we have here in Sendai, and 2 minutes from work and the train station. There is a driving range and a bowling alley here also, but its a 20 minute bike ride, so I don't go there much. I eat dinner almost every day at Joyfull. The waitresses all know that I am foreign, and they bring me a knife and fork every meal, even though I usually just use the chopsticks. Joyfull is like a Denny's except that is serves Japanese food. I know every dish on the menu. My two favorites are the chicken tempura with rice and the Udon noodles with shrimp tempura. Both are 499. It's cheaper than cooking, plus there is nothing to clean afterwards.

Here are some pictures I took my second day in Sendai:

This is Sendai river, the bridge you see is for the trains.




This is looking the other direction, the big smokestack is the nuclear power plant.




This is a flower I saw near my apartment.



And this sign shows the building of the bridge. At least I think so, its all in Japanese....



So that's a quick look at my new home, more to come soon.

And today I got the Internet.

Wow. I have been here for almost two and a half months, and just one hour ago I finally rediscovered the joys of a working internet connection. I know I said I would update this page quite often, and two months of inactivity would make it seen as if I was less than truthfull. However, if anyone is still reading this page, rest assured that I will be posting quite a bit. This is going to be a record of my journey after all, and if the rest of my time here is like the beginning, I am not going to want to forget much at all.

I arrived in Japan on Saturday July 12th, working with about 4 hours of sleep since Thurday morning. I couldn't sleep on the plane, I was leaving the Americas for the first time and my stomach was churning with anticipation. After a landing at Narita airport and clearing customs, I boarded a plane for Fukuoka which would land at 9:30 pm. I meet my contact there, and she informed me that we would be waiting for Ayako (another new teacher who just so happened to be at my training session) to arrive and then we would walk to my hotel. She neglected to tell me that this would end up being a three mile walk with me carrying two bags wearing a combined 55 pounds. When I finally arrived at my room I was exhausted. I still only was able to sleep for four hours.

In the moring I met up with Ayako and had my first Japanese meal...and of course it was ramen. Its very good here. I also realized that Japanese women wear high heels. All the time. In the rain, at the beach, at work, at the supermarket, everywhere you look, they are in heels. I boarded a train at 3:00 and arrived in Sendai at 5:45 where I was met by my trainer, a proper British gentleman in his early 30's named Sam (actually he's really 25, but theres something about male pattern baldness that can make a person look old. One student was sure he was in his 40's). He in turn taught me all I needed to know about teaching in 3 days, and then I was left to my own devices as my manager got transfered four days after I arrived. It was just me all alone in Japan.

Leaving home

Yesterday I left Arcata, not to return until July 2009. It didn't really sink in that it would be such a long time between seeing my friends and family until just a couple days before I left. But I am excited about new challenges and expirences that await me on the other side of the world.

I am currently staying with the Riegelmann's. As I am not taking my XBox to Japan, Mike and I have played a lot of HALO (that is once the kids have gone to bed). They have two of the best kids ever, but trying to get anything done with a toddler and a baby is tough work. Mike and Holly are amazing with their kids, and sometimes I think about my married friends and think that maybe I am behind them in life, but then I realize that I am not at all ready to be married and have a kid. Much less two.

I played my last round of golf Tuesday with my dad and my brother, and my dad was kicking my butt. We were just playing nine holes, and he made birdies on 5 and 6 to go three up. But then I birdied 7, 8 and 9 to close out the round and we finished tied. Everyone ended up happy. It was a good way to go out.