Visitors Part II: My Family!
[Subplot: How I Rocked The House (with 30 others) With A Professional Taiko Group]

My beloved family came to visit me this past week -- Mom and Dad from Canada and little sis Hana from Australia. I saw my parents this summer but I hadn't seen the Hanster since I left for Japan over a year ago, so it was great to see her again. Below you will see a live-action photo capturing the moment of our reunion. Tall hugs and smiles all 'round. Plus, I think this was historic because as far as I know, this was the first time our entire family has been together in Japan!

The reason for their coming at this time was the mysterious alignment of the cosmos that made Za Ondekoza stop in Kudamatsu on their 2007/2008 tour. Ondekoza is one of the oldest professional taiko groups (japanese ensemble drumming) in Japan and was one of the original pioneers of Japanese-style ensemble drumming as it exists today. Ondekoza is also the group that made me fall in love with taiko when I was just a wee lad of 13 -- they played at the Centre in The Square in Kitchener and totally blew my mind.

When I heard that I might have a chance to play WITH Ondekoza at their concert, along with select members of two other local taiko groups, I couldn't quite believe it. I thought I had heard wrong, or that it was a different taiko group, or that I wouldn't be able to play since I was still new..... but no. My fears were allayed and when I came back to Japan after summer vacation, our practice started in earnest.

We practiced twice a week for 2 months (near the end, I was helping to teach a kids taiko group on Fridays too!) ... all for 2 minutes of glory onstage with the legendary Ondekoza.

Anyways, to make a long story a little less long, we rocked. I made some mistakes, mostly due to the fact that the Ondekoza version was approximately twice as fast as we'd ever done it in practice, but I kept up for the most part. It was really awesome. I don't actually remember much of it, but our group manager told me later that my cheering section (my family, Brett, Ashley!) gave us a standing ovation at the end. One dream come true.

Anyways, back to my family. In between day trips to various parts of Yamaguchi and Northern Kyushu, we chilled at my apartment: listened to music, cooked and ate delicious food and read good books. Just like home! Also, while Hana and I slept in the mornings, my dear parents cleaned my apartment ("Sinks are my specialty." - Dad).



Some pictures taken during our time together:



Reunion of the Ken and the Hana.


Me Da at Miyajima.



Brett joined us for dinner one night. He impressed us all with his wit and manners. He managed to not swear for almost 3 hours.


Me and Hoder in Akiyoshidai, the biggest limestone cave in Japan. Certainly the biggest limestone cave I've ever been in.

Kokura Castle - A beautiful castle in Kokura city, Northern Kyushu. This is significant because it was at one time ruled by the Ogasawara clan! What! Mind you, my Ogasawara-ness is geographical rather than geneological, but still cool. The 3 diamonds stacked on top of each other is the Ogasawara family crest and the first three characters beside it read "O-gasa-wara". The rest I can't read.

Kokura Castle, at a unique photographic angle that is pleasing to the eye.

My Dad.

Visitors: Part I: Jonny D.

Greetings to all.

Right off the bat: In my first year in Japan, I had exactly zero people visit me (from outside Japan). Wait, unless there was somebody. Dang. If you did visit me last year, I apologize, it seems I have forgotten. Anyways, nobody that I remember came to visit me last year so my hosting muscles were not taxed in any way.

However, this year, most especially this fall/winter season, I will have/am having/had a number of guests beginning with Jon Dunford of New Hamburg, Ontario, Canada.

Jonny D taught in China for a year, realized that teaching was "not his calling", decided to get the hell out and on the way out, visit his friend Ken in Japan. This was Jon's first visit to Japan and really, his first experience with anything Japanese (let's be honest, Jon)(also, watching Karate Kid does not count, Brett).

Anyways, here are some photos featuring Jonny D and some pictures not featuring Jonny D but were taken during our time together.




Hanaoka Shrine, in my city.

Hisyaku, ceremonial dippers at Hanaoka Shrine.

Jonny D REALLY concentrating on his Gusto Burger.

MIYAJIMA Part II (Part I was exactly one year ago).

Two Things That Made Me Smile This Week.

Now that I'm getting down to writing about these two little things, I'm experiencing some slight discomfort because the stories, on the surface, show me as the hero. My humble Mennonite (moreover Japanese-Mennonite) upbringing has instilled in me an allergic reaction to making myself look awesome, awesome though I may be.

Despite these slight twinges of faux-humility, I will tell you about the two things just because I have time.

1. At lunch-hour yesterday, I walked into the gym for the first time, where a bunch of kids were shooting hoops. Everybody was like "whooaa! Ken!" and two of my favourite 8th graders, two girls named Kanako and Nagano passed me a ball and told me to shoot from the free-throw line. Everyone in the gym was watching. You can guess what happened. I lined up and with perfect form and luck, swished the ball in. A collective "whooaaaa!!!" from all my students and I walked out in triumph, my hand still raised in the cookie-jar, forever a great basketball player in the minds of all who were present. Kanako and Nagano followed me out, barely able to contain themselves, they were so impressed: "Ken!! Great! Great!"; Nagano upped the ante by using correct grammar: "Ken IS great! Ken is great!".

2. I was teaching 9th graders, typically the most detached and unlively bunch of kids. But today's class (section 3-4) was, as my teaching partner Mr. Ishida said, "the best 9th graders in the school". The target sentence was, "It is important for me to...." and the interrogative version, "Is it important for you to...?". Mr. Ishida put me on the spot and asked for an example, which I had not prepared. Finally, after much thinking, I said:

"It's important for me to respect my students." Everyone's eyes got all big and they were so impressed that the class burst into spontaneous applause! I was very happy. Some boys were then inspired to make up their own equally noble and impressive sentences. When I looked at their papers a few minutes later, one boy had proudly written, "It is important for me to sleep". He gave me a big thumbs up and a smile: "Very important!".

Another noteworthy note from that same lesson was when we were reviewing "It is easy/difficult for me to...", one boy asked how to say ______ in English. I didn't know, so I asked Mr. Ishida for the translation: "It is difficult for me to control my feelings". !! Holy crap! What an awesome answer, especially from a 14-year-old boy.

Well, then. There you have it. A few snapshots out of my teaching experience which is often boring, but often very meaningful and rewarding, too.
Also, I hope we can all see that such great reactions to my trivial actions reveals the real heroes to be the students, not me.

So as not to end this post on a cheesily serious note, I will write this last sentence.