Above: Shoe swaping at school. It is almost Golden Week (the one week where people are excused from work in Japan) and I am making plans to travel to Fukuoka, the biggest city in Kyushu. This time, there will be nobody involved but me and probably about 2 million other people on vacation. I am booking my hotel today (yes unbelievable but I am not staying at a hostel) and everything is nearly full. The reason behind this is not only Golden Week itself, but I have just learned today that there is also a huge festival in the city during this very weekend. Here is WikiTravel's description of it:

Hakata Dontaku (博多どんたく) is held in Fukuoka City on May 3 and 4. Boasting over 800 years of history, Dontaku is attended by more than 2 million people, making it the Japanese festival with the highest attendance during Japan's Golden Week holidays. During the festival, stages are erected throughout downtown for traditional performances and a parade of floats is held.

Festivals are always fun alcohol infused events for the locals (and me often enough) that make for an interesting weekend rather then my run of the mill routine of going to the 7-11, getting stared at, me waving, and then going home for three hours to think about it. I'm excited to see Fukuoka, I've heard nothing but good things about it and heard that there is a lot of good people watching to do. The excitement of people watching may seem unfathomable to those of you with busy productive lives, but I assure you that it us even more enjoyable when experienced in a country with different customs and human interactions. I'm not dead set on what else I will do in Fukuoka for five days but I have a Lonely Planet travelbook to help me navigate all the museums, parks, and undoubtedly vending machines. By the way I saw a gum vending machine in Miyakonojo yesterday and was impressed. This was of course a mere precursor to what I was to later on in the day see in the same downtown area. I will later post a picture of this rare find but I believe that I have stumbled upon the first vending machine ever invented right here in Miyakonojo. I was riding my bike by this filthy rust covered, prehistoric looking contraption that seemed to have some sort of old fashioned beverage in it and it all made sense that if the oldest man in the world lived here, the first vending machine was probably invented here too. Speaking of old things in the area, I may have mentioned before that Kyushu is interesting for a number of reasons, all of which I am sure I have only convinced myself are true because I am on contract to live here for a minimum of five more months, ANYHOW these reasons are: In Kagoshima, the prefecture directly adjacent to Miyazaki prefecture, only about a thirty minute drive away from where I live is home to a 10,000 year old site where the oldest human remains in Japan have been founding, suggesting that people initially immigrated from the south and first settled around here. This was discovered when a construction crew was digging up some dirt to create a hotel and undoubtedly a pachinko parlor or two. Reason number two, Kagoshima, is also, where Matthew Perry, first came to Japan when it was a closed society and said "Knock, knock", and Japan was like " Dare desu ka? ((who is there?))", and Matthew Perry was like "Its the rest of the world, now open up so we can trade with you". Ok ok, but Kyushu is also cool because it is infamous for beautiful landscape, forests, volcanoes, open space that is usually not associated with living in Japan, and its crazy out of control male chauvinism that according to my friend Kumiko can only be rivaled the the equally backwood mentality of Yokohama. Maybe that is not cool but it is funny in its own right at times, and Kyushu is also renowned for its heavy drinking of Shoujou which is making a big comeback and is preferred over sake to most in the reason. So to not go on and on, I am excited to see more of Kyushu. Fukuoka has a ferry that can take you to Korea or China in a few hours, and is the area of Japan that is closest to these now bustling markets. What does this mean? Cheap shopping. Something new. I will post some pictures when I get back from my trip. For now, here are a few random school pictures and a photo from last night when my friend Tomoko's German boyfriend came all the way to Japan to see her. We went out for sushi and a few drinks. Here are the results. Ohh yeah, and last weekend I biked out to Nagata Gorge. It was nice but I won't do it again because there was no real bike lane on the road. Also above a photo of the appropriately named graveyard park.

I think we both forgot that I have a blog. If I haven't spoken to you lately I have created a representation of the events that have transpired in word/picture form and put it on this new thing called the internet. My Skype microphone has been on the fritz and I have been out of touch with reality more then normal, which can be a somewhat refreshing experience to be disconnected from happenings (not people). The new school year started for me and my students and in typical Japanese form there was an elaborate entrance ceremony for our new students to induct them into the world of school. I feel sad for them because most of them are letting go of their childhood at this point and will never get it back. From now until they are finished with college, grad school, whatever, they will go to school, then go to cram school after school, go to some more school on the weekend, get a side helping of school, and maybe squeeze in a piano lesson or something if possible. I still think it is strange when I see kids riding their bikes in their school uniforms late Sunday night. Prior to this extravaganza, my brother Ryan flew all the way from Seattle (and wasn't even jet lagged((so tough))!) and we saw enough temples and shrines to make our heads spin. Being the resourceful young man that he is, my dear brother picked up many tongue twisting words that even the Japanese find difficult to pronounce after a few Saporro's in the very brief 11 days or so he was on this volcanic island with me such as: "beeru", "sumimasen" ((which was my first word)) and other classics such as "Can I have the check please((the Japanese language often borrows heavily from English))". I'm not going to stop with these parenthesis just to give you fair warning. So as I was saying, my brother flew all the way from a small city full of hippies who are so close to Canada they act like it and I picked him up from the train station. That night I introduced him to his first all you can drink at a local favorite hangout simplistically called "Darts and Bar". My brother's visit coincided with Cherry Blossoms blooming so we biked the next day to Mochio Park to do some Sakura viewing, then we took a taxi to Sekino Waterfall. It was a pretty lovely day. My brother ate a corndog that he almost exploded in the microwave at the grocery store. I thought you should know. While in Miyakonojo we also went to Kirishima brewery, went to Miyakonojo's best and loudest rotating sushi bar, and attempted to buy a 2 liter beer out of a vending machine. Not wanting to develop a solid reputation in the city I choose to reside in, we decided to move on the day after. We headed to Kagoshima and I took Ryan to the areas only clothed outdoor volcanic hotspring (cause its part of a shrine). From Kagoshima we took a plane up to Osaka and stayed in a commendably small business hotel and walked around . There wasn't that much in Osaka that was that interesting, but then again I was exhausted and I didn't even make it to see their giant statue of liberty. It was kind of rainy and cold that day so we just relaxed. The next day we took the Shinkansen to Kyoto which is totally amazing. Kyoto is old school Japan minus all the excess hustle and bustle. Things are very metropolitan there and certainly in specific areas, but Kyoto retains the old feel of Japan and there is something to see on just about every corner. We ended up staying at this really relaxing guesthouse right by Gion (the area where all the geishas in Japan kick it). We went and some some famous sights like the Imperial Palace, Fushimi Inari, Toji Temple, and I even saw some Geishas scurrying to thier appointments in Gion late at night. There was a temple right by our hostel that was having its cherry blossom festival so that was really nice. Festivals are kind of like the fair but without the rides, no animal smells, and a lot of people in kimonos. Ryan and I even met a nice girl whose boyfriend is from Bakersfield and we dined at a Mexican Food place together and then had some after dinner refreshments at "Sheepz". After Kyoto we went to Nara to get an eyeful of the thousands of wild deer that are constantly pestering sightseers for cookies. Nara is pretty small and quiet so it was a nice change of pace. Ryan, if you are reading this, I'm not going to even tell the Shabu-Shabu story. After Nara we headed to Tokyo. All I can say about Tokyo is that if you try and walk from one subway stop to another it might take you close to an hour, the city is so spread out it is unbelievable. In Tokyo we did some more sightseeing, did a lot of eating, a little shopping and experienced a pretty scary earthquake. The highlight of Tokyo was having brunch at the Park Hyatt (the hotel where they filmed "Lost in Translation"). It was probably one of the coolest things I've ever done on the 52nd floor of a building. Anyway, I'm not going to get into crazy detail. We had a great time, I was sad to see him go back home but I am normally ready to return to work after a few weeks off. I have quite a few more days off at the beginning of May coming up so another vacation is just around the corner. I'm trying to figure out a time to visit California right now, I'll let you know when I have it figured out. I am possibly thinking of going to teach in Tokyo or Kyoto for awhile after my contract is up but am still undecided at this point. Lately I have been running outside a lot due to the amazing weather, studying Japanese rarely but enough to mention, going to yoga a little, and just trying to be a good teacher. My co-worker Sarah returned to the US and I really miss her but I think that I can stay sane without her as long as I have some books to read and the internet to keep in contact with everyone.Anyhow, bye.