Thanksgiving

Today is Labour Thanksgiving Day in Japan, which happened to coincide with American Thanksgiving (or maybe it’s always the same day?) so we had today off. It’s nice to have a day off after only two days of work, but I wouldn’t have minded another day to observe the teacher I’m replacing, either.

This morning a group of us (the other full-time foreign teacher, the teacher I’m replacing, one of our two assistant managers, and about six students) met at the station and then we left in three cars to drive somewhere to the North (away from the sea). After a very long time sitting in the back of the car on some very windy roads we stopped for lunch and then a boat trip. The trip had been introduced to us as some kind of canyon and cave visit, but it was actually just sitting on the floor of a boat for about half an hour going through a canyon and listening to narration in Japanese. The boat was pretty packed, mainly with older people, and it never fails to impress me how all Japanese people seem to be able to sit so still with their legs folded under them for as long as they want. Also, they never mind removing their shoes, something that takes a little getting used to for westerners. The boat trip was interesting, but I would imagine it’s prettier in any of the other three seasons and it must be more interesting when you can understand the narration (I kept thinking, “welcome aboard the Washington State ferries…).

After the boat trip we stopped at an onsen, or hot spring. We always think of the Japanese as very modest people, but no one here seems to have any problem getting naked together, so maybe our definition of modesty doesn’t quite fit. At the onsen you disrobe and then go into the room with the baths and wash (you can never be too clean for the onsen!) then go in the water. There are usually a few different baths, and they may be different temperatures or have different things floating in them (today there was some kind of apple-mint tea bag type thing floating in one of the smaller pools). My favorite onsens are the ones that have both indoor and outdoor pools, but this one unfortunately did not. Most of the time if you go in a medium-sized group there are a few people who don’t go in (they never explain why) and today only three (out of seven) of the women went in. Anyway, you hang out in the water for as long as you can stand it and then wash again and leave. The post-onsen feeling is similar to the feeling one gets from a bath, but even better.

After the onsen we drove back to the city and then went to a restaurant for a goodbye meal for James, the teacher I’m replacing. We had at least four courses, most of them based on tofu, and plenty of alcohol. It was nomi-houdai, which means “all you can drink,” a very popular style here. And on that note, I suppose I should get to bed! Tomorrow is my last day to observe James and then Saturday I am on my own (but then I have two more days off to prepare for next week).

Happy Thanksgiving!
Cate