Living & Working in Ishikawa, Japan
Jalan.net is, by far, my favorite place to book hotels. The site has a lot of great deals and has very detailed information on the hotels: closest train station, amenities, services, photographs, maps, and what meals are included. Plus, you can search by what kind of accommodations you want: ryokan, business hotel, single, double, Japanese-style room, and so on. Until recently, Jalan was Japanese-only, but they have opened an English version of the website.
The English site features all the details of the Japanese one, and the interface is the mostly the same but has the international traveler’s’ needs in mind.
With the new JETs arriving in two months, now is the time to upload your favorite lesson plans, proposals, and notes to Entrepreneurial Teacher. Give your successor and the rest of the Ishikawa JETs the benefit of your knowledge and experience in a format they can access before they even get to Ishikawa!
For example, what recipes went over well at English Club or your international cooking lesson? What would you do differently at your next eikaiwa? What are the best games for elementary first graders? What tips do you have for writing an event proposal?
The content of ET is only as good as we make it. Get a head start on your departure preparation or your orientation material collection today!
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If you’re looking for an inexpensive place to stay near the heart of Osaka, I recommend J-Hoppers Osaka Central. J-Hoppers is a small chain of hostels with locations in Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, and Hida Takayama.
Photo from J-Hoppers.
The Osaka Central location is about a 20-minute walk from JR Osaka （大阪駅）/Hankyuu Umeda Stations （梅田駅） and 5 minutes from the JR Fukushima* Station (福島駅) on the Osaka Loop line. Make sure you have a map if coming from the Osaka station, as the path is a little confusing the first time.
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It’s “another day, another omiyage” at the Japanese office. One thing I’ve noticed is that omiyage, and, obviously, food from street vendors rarely have the nutritional content listed. If you’ve ever wondered about the calories in taiyaki, yokan, or other Japanese foods, the website eiyoukeisan.com (「栄養計算」) has the answers.
Living with no central heating in one of the rainiest prefectures in Japan has convinced me that wool (uuru, ウール; ke, 毛) is perhaps the most amazing fabric on earth. It keeps you warm even when it’s wet and dries quickly. If you’re like me and didn’t own a lot of woolens or wool blends prior to moving to Japan, proper care and washing of woolens might be new to you.
First, keep all your dirty woolens in the same laundry basket—this will prevent mix-ups and snagging on zippers, etc.
Although a lot of the blogging I do for the IJET blog is about how to live well in Ishikawa even if you don’t speak Japanese, as a bilingual, sometimes I forget the little linguistically aggravating details of living that really make or break JETs’ Japan experience. Luckily, there is a site precisely for this: Surviving in Japan (Without Much Japanese).
Ashley Thompson, the editor, is an ex-JET living in Japan. The purpose of the blog, she writes, is
not…about etiquette, where to find a job or apartment, or a list of how to prepare for life here (though, there are some ideas concerning that here and there)…. I had to learn how to do a lot of things on my own during my first years here – things that weren’t reiterated in the various websites and books I read before arriving. And now I’m compiling the knowledge that has helped me “survive” in Japan for you in this blog.
These past couple days have been tragic and our hearts go out to all the people in the Tohoku region that were affected by the tsunami. While watching these events unfold on TV, many saw a map like this in the corner of their TV screens:
Image courtesy of the Japan Meterological Agency
Many JETs noticed Ishikawa highlighted in yellow and were asking questions. What does this mean? Do I need to evacuate? Is it safe to be living so close to the beach?
So here’s a breakdown of what these higlighted maps mean:
Local TV stations will also broadcast on-screen what time waves are expected to hit your area shores. The Japan Meteorological Agency will have current information on earthquakes and tsunami warnings in English here. If you see a tsunami advisory—even though it’s small —don’t go to the beach. One man in California was swept to sea in the small tsunami that hit California shores yesterday. He was trying to take pictures of the waves.
If a larger tsunami warning is issued for Ishikawa, keep tuned into the local news, but also listen for any emergency broadcasts that may come from your town hall. If you hear an announcement or siren, it may mean you need to get to a shelter or higher ground. Places such as schools, town halls, and other large public buildings are usually designated emergency shelters.
If you have any questions about your specific area, talk to your supervisors, neighbors, or JTEs for more information. They can give you specific information about designated emergency shelters or evacuation routes in your area.
-Melanie
For the second time, the lovely folks at Fukumitsu-ya（福光屋） Sake Brewery will be having us for a tour of their facilities. If you talk to anyone who came the year before, this was one of the highlights of the JET calendar last year.
What this event entails:
Starting at 2pm Saturday March 19th (you have plenty of time to mark your calendar) we will be given a tour of their facilities and have a guide explain the inner workings of a sake brewery. After the tour, there will be a free sake tasting where you can try a large variety of sake and ask questions of the brewery.
The tour and tasting are FREE. Yes, believe it or not, they are letting us drink their finest sake for FREE. If this year is anything like last year you will be able to taste anything from the Fukumitsu-ya normal brand sakes up to their top shelf sakes that can range 200USD a bottle.
This event is open to all JETS and friends of JETS, the only thing that is needed is that you send me (Travis) an email at aoishinobi[AT]gmail[DOT]com before the tour to give me a count on how many people will be participating in the tour. We can not tell the brewery that only 10 people are coming, and have 20 people show up!!!
They need time to prepare for large groups, so don’t forget to email me.
Directions will also be sent out to everyone who reply by email. So its important that you email me if you are going, if you are unfamiliar with Kanazawa I will also be meeting people at the station before hand. The area where the Brewery is is not very accessible by car and parking is nonexistent. Besides, you can’t drink and drive, and lots of drinking will most likely occur.
Lets get our sake on!!!!
-Travis
Nami no hana (波の花), or “wave flowers,” is a phenomenon that occurs along the coast of the top of the Noto Peninsula, particularly around coasts of Wajima and Suzu, during the winter.
Video courtesy of Rachel Rasfeld.
Between mid-November and late February, the winds in the northern sea of Japan can reach 13 meters/second, while the waves are about 4 meters high.* The sea is cold and rough, and the mucus of the botanical plankton floating in the water turns into a white, foamy substance. This substance is white at the start of winter, but becomes yellow as it mixes with rock particles over the course of the season.
Although the wave flowers can be seen on clear days, it’s best to go on stormy days when the sea is violent to get the full effect.
Photos and directions after the cut.
Take a look at your household cleaning products. How many bottles of cleaners do you have? One for the bath, one for the kitchen, one for the toilet, one for mold, one for drains…. You can save a lot of money and make your home healthier and more eco-friendly by switching to cleaners made with two inexpensive, easy-to-find products: baking soda and vinegar.
Photo from Amazon.co.jp
Baking soda (juusou, 重曹) is, regrettably, not as cheap as it is in the US, but vinegar (su, 酢) is fairly inexpensive (and can be used on its own as a cleaner). If you don’t feel like mixing your own cleaner, you can buy it premixed. Several companies make this product: One is “Baking Soda and Vinegar Kitchen Cleaner” (juusou tasu osu daidokoro kurinaa, 重曹+お酢台所クリーナー), which, of course, can be used all over the home; another is Baking-Soda-chan (juusou-chan, 重曹ちゃん).
Image from amazon.co.jp
Baking soda and vinegar is a great disinfectant and household cleaner. I use it to clean my kitchen counters and sink, my bathtub and bathroom, my oven range and gas range, the top of my kotatsu, and my toilet. That’s at least four separate cleaners I don’t have to buy! I bought my first bottle pre-mixed, and I refill it by mixing powdered mix with water in the same spray bottle. A 500-gram box of powdered Juusou-chan is extremely cheap at 250 yen and will last forever.
There are quite a few benefits of using baking soda and vinegar.
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