Professor Yoshimura

Professor Sakuji Yoshimura visited Hisawa JHS today to give a 2 hour talk about his career as an Egyptologist and to explain what sparked his interest in Egypt when he was a young boy.

As well as talking to the students from Hisawa JHS, there was also a live link up with other schools in the local area so as many students as possible could benefit from his visit and have the chance to ask the Professor some questions. Judging by how many students wanted to ask a question, they were very interested in his life and work.

Professor Yoshimura is a household name in Japan and his visit to our school was eagerly awaited. There were TV cameras from about 5 stations and a host of newspaper reporters and cameramen. As you can see, his visit made it on to the TV.

Professor Yoshimura has fame comparable to that of Sir Patrick Moore in Britain. He's a household name and an international authority in his field. I managed to understand portions of his talk and I was really pleased to see such a positive reaction to him from the students.An interesting 2 hours at school and one which I shall always remember when I see Professor Yoshimura on TV in the future.

Gremlins, Guns, and Greensleeves

The week has passed quickly and has been fairly enjoyable. Classes have been fun and I have managed to get a lot of things done.

Today (Friday) proved to be an amusing day for a couple of reasons. Firstly, an Associate Professor (with the obligatory tweed jacket) visited Hisawa JHS to watch a live online English lesson which our school does in conjunction with Benesse Corporation in Tokyo. What would be the worst thing that could happen when an esteemed professor comes visiting? Yes, gremlins. We were not able to carry out the class today as our connection to Benesse HQ in Tokyo had crashed. It was so funny watching the embarrassment and awkwardness of the professor and other teachers that I nearly soiled myself. Quality!

At lunchtime, I decided to eat with the 3rd grade students. They all seemed to be in good moods despite the pressure of upcoming high school entrance exams and their looming graduation in March. Whilst eating, I sat and chatted with the students and made the odd joke. I asked the boy sitting next to me what he had planned for this weekend. The student answered that he was going to shoot me on Saturday. I assume that he was joking and therefore will give him 10 out of 10 for originality. Usually when I ask this sort of question I get some sort of stock answer e.g. I'm going to watch TV. It's not often you manage to get a joke from a student so it made my day in a Clint Eastwood kind of way.

This week I have been irritated by the general level of noise that goes on around the staff room. My irritation has been triggered by the new ring tone that plays on the school phone every time it rings. The tune is Greensleeves but is reproduced in a tacky electronic way - I'm sure you can imagine what it's like. Not only is the tune annoying but it is really loud.

Because the phone noise has been annoying me, I've become more sensitive to the other noises in the staff room. This week I have noticed the lack of noise control exercised by the teachers in the staff room. Frequently, teachers communicate by shouting, even when they are standing next to each other. I didn't really notice this phenomenon before and I'm hoping that I will cease to notice again next week. On one occasion I was sitting at my desk listening to various shouted conversations and considering borrowing the decibel reader from the science lab.

What do I have planned for this weekend and next week at work? Hopefully I'll go to Takatsue ski area on Saturday if it doesn't rain. We'll probably go to Aizu Wakamatsu on Sunday (although I have forgotten the reason for the trip).

Next week seems to be a very easy week at work. As you can see by my schedule, I only have 5 classes in total with none on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. The classes that I will attend are shaded in yellow on Wednesday and Friday. I am not bothered about having so few classes next week as I have plenty of other things to keep me occupied at the moment. Monday will also be really interesting as a very famous Egyptologist will visit Hisawa JHS and give a lecture on his work and findings. I'm really looking forward to this as I have always had an interest in Egypt and its history. Even though the lecture will be in Japanese, I'm sure I'll be able to glean plenty of information from the Egyptologist.

While the cat's away.......

Yuki and Clara are both in Tokyo at the moment and will return to Shimogo on Wednesday. As they are in Tokyo, I thought it would be a good idea to invite Alan (a friend from Scotland) and his girlfriend to Shimogo. It proved to be a busy 2 days.

On Friday at about 9.30pm, I drove to a station called Aizu Kogen to pick them up. While I was driving through the town of Tajima, I noticed that the small van in front of me had stopped on the train level crossing. Seconds later, a woman got out of the van and ran towards my car. She told me that she had just broken down! I can't think of a worse place to break down, apart from on Haifa Street in Baghdad.

I got out of my car and managed to push the van off the tracks - seconds later, along came a train. I was in the right place at the right time. If I hadn't have been there, the train would certainly have collided with the van. Exciting stuff!!

We got back to Shimogo at about 10pm and then headed to Wakatsuki for some food and drink. Alan and Akie seemed impressed with Wakatsuki and were surprised that such a place existed in Shimogo. We left Wakatsuki fairly late and this probably has something to do with our late start on Saturday.On Saturday, we drove to a town called Tadami for the snow festival. The drive took about 90 minutes but it was a good opportunity for Alan and Akie to see the real Japanese countryside. I think Tadami probably is the most charming town in the local area. I was expecting the festival to be really busy, and so was very surprised to see few people at this event. It was raining and I think that drove a lot of people away. Another bad point of the Tadami Snow Festival was the smell of cooked mutton - the smell was really strong and making us all feel nauseous.

After our brief visit to the Tadami Snow Festival, we drove to Yurari Onsen for a bath followed by lunch and a nap.

On Saturday night, we went to a newish place called Doronko in Shimogo for dinner and more beers. I would like to go to Doronko more often but it is too far from the area where I stay. The food at Doronko is excellent. Doronko is run by a young couple called Rie and Nozomi. New businesses run by young people are rare in rural Japan but are vitally important for the future survival of Japanese rural settlements. I wish them luck.

Alan and Akie planned to return to Tokyo at 2.30pm on Sunday. This allowed me to show them another snow festival in Ouchijuku (technically part of Shimogo) and also show them a place called Tonohetsuri with its interesting rock formations. They were really pleased to see Ouchijuku with its charming houses with straw roofs. After lunch in Ouchijuku, I drove Alan and Akie to Tajima so they could catch their train back to Tokyo. A good couple of days but I'm certainly pretty tired after the visit (and a lot poorer).
There has been quite a lot of snow over the past couple of days so I paid a brief visit to Daikura today (Monday) for a spot of skiing. It was really busy today as it's a national holiday (Foundation Day) in Japan.

Next week will see me visit 3 different elementary schools for the last time before we move to Tokyo. On Tuesday night I'll be busy cleaning the flat in advance of the return of Yuki and Clara. Bye for now.