The rainy season ended early this year – around July 11 – and it has been blazing hot here for almost a month. Today there is a little respite – a strong breeze and some clouds to offer a little natural shade. But the temperature hovers around 36 degrees, and I am hiding from the heat in my air-conditioned bedroom, the only air-conditioned room in the apartment. Last night it didn’t seem to cool down much; even at 11, it was still 30 degrees in the other rooms of the apartment. The electric fan is always humming in the corner, rotating gently and bringing a little relief. But I gave up jogging over a month ago. It’s just too hot, even in the mornings. Maybe during my vacation, I can run in the evenings.

My feet and legs are a mass of large, red welts where the mosquitoes have been feasting. I went to the beach on Monday night with Cody and Yumi to go swimming before the others arrived for a barbecue. We went to Koura Beach, instead of Kitaura. Koura Beach faces the west, and is pretty ideal for barbecuing. At the entrance near the parking lot, there is a large, crescent-shaped concrete terrace with broad steps down to the beach. A ledge gives us a good place to sit or place food. There have been many barbecues here over the summer, and I wasn’t impressed with the scattered charcoal and grease marks on the ground.

We came out here for the first barbecue of the summer in July. Yumi and I had arrived when the sun already set but a pale, pearly light remained in the sky. We took a short, cooling dip in the silvery waters. Stephen arrived before us and was industriously combing the beach and nearby woods for loose branches and driftwood to burn. He is in charge of bonfires at these events, as Seiji is in charge of barbecuing, simply because they really enjoy the tasks and are good at them. The bonfire engrossed everyone, even as it shrank to a clump of glowing coals.

This time, there was not a scrap of driftwood left on the beach. The water was warm and pleasant, and I basked in it for a while. Yumi was not so lucky; she was stung four times by a jellyfish before she finally gave up and fled the water. Cody was distracted by a disturbance in the water that signified a school of small fish, and pursued it for a while. I watched a large crab scuttle away on the rippled sand under the water, and finally dig under the sand and disappear in seconds. The sunset was an amazing display of magentas and purples, silhouetting the seagulls perched on the rocks beautifully. I finally got out as the sun set beyond the sea, unsettled as I am by dark water and mindful of the jellyfish threat. Yumi had livid white stripes across her knees, like old scar tissue, from the jellyfish’s tentacles, and clearly it hurt a lot. We sat down and watched the lights disappear before finally Seiji showed up with the barbecue and the hamburgers Cleve had sold him the night before (leftovers from the stall Cleve operated during the weekend’s festival). While he got the barbecue going, I supervised preparation of the hamburger fixin’s and Yumi lit the mosquito coils to keep the little monsters at bay – hah! Reiko and Martin, who both worked in the evening, showed up just as the first burgers were cooked – perfect timing. I was delighted to have a good old-fashioned hamburger with fried onions, sliced pickles, tomato and lettuce. The other barbecues I went to this year have been great, but nary a hot dog or hamburger to be seen. I also made onigiri, or rice balls, a popular Japanese snack. I made sushi rice (rice with a little salt, sugar and rice vinegar) and added black sesame seeds, then put the rice on a sheet of nori (the seaweed used to make sushi), added some chopped pickled plums (umeboshi) and rolled it up in a cylinder. To do this neatly, you have to make sure your hands are wet, or everything just sticks. Anyway, for a first time, they turned out pretty well.

While we were eating, a white stray cat showed up, hoping for some scraps of food. He had an aristocratically angular face, and was very friendly, and mostly well-behaved, except for one instant when he seized and devoured a hamburger bun; he seemed to prefer bread to meat. After receiving the bread and some cheese, he settled down to groom and watch us. Seiji affectionately named him “Dirty Little Cat”.

After eating, we lay down on the sand to watch the shooting stars. The Perseid meteor shower had begun, and we wanted to catch a few and make our wishes. They were so fast, it was impossible to wish on one. We joked that wishes would have to be short (e.g. “Money!”). Our next wish was “Kill all mosquitoes,” as they swarmed us on the sand. Other people were on the beach, too, or came late to sit on the beach, look at the stars and set off fireworks. I admit that after the very busy weekend I fell asleep and missed a lot of good shooting stars. Reiko and Cody took a break to go play in the wet sand by the water. Cody, the sweet guy, has fallen pretty hard for Reiko. I noticed it a couple of months ago, and encouraged it by suggesting that Cody go to the Cultural Centre, where Reiko volunteers as a Japanese teacher. Unfortunately, Reiko is not so interested in him, although she likes him a lot. She was involved with this ultra-cool, offbeat jewellery seller who travelled to Tibet to buy semi-precious stones, then made unique, gorgeous, expensive jewellery from them. I saw a show of his at Port Below, and I have to admit the guy was interesting. He lives in Tokyo now. Reiko and Cody get along so well that I think it’s a shame. They are very sweet and playful, both of them.

This is festival season. Today is the first day of Obon, a three-day holiday marking the return of the ancestors to their homes. It is kind of similar to Mexico’s Day of the Dead. Prior to Obon, people thoroughly clean their homes, to show respect for their ancestors. (I imagine the spirit of some ancestral grandmother swiping a ghostly finger along each ledge and shelf, checking for dust…) Then there are Buddhist ceremonies on the 13^th to welcome ancestors home and again on the 15^th to see them off again, to wherever it is they go. In between, there are many reunions of families and friends, as people from all over Japan return to their hometowns. It’s a terrible time to travel, though, because of the crowded trains and the gruelling heat.

In Matsue, the festivals kick off with the Tenjin Festival on July 24^th and 25^th, centring on the Tenmangu Shrine about five minutes from AEON. Of course I worked, so I came late to the festivities on the second night. But the streets were still crowded with people, and many of my friends had gathered at Port Below, eating all kinds of greasy food from the nearby stalls – takoyaki, yakitori, squid on a stick, hot dogs, okonomiyaki – and drinking beer or cold tea to refresh themselves. Martin had arrived back in Matsue after taking two weeks off to attend weddings in Iceland and Canada, and we welcomed him back. When the festival closed down at 11, we stopped at Kaya on the way home – me, Stephen, Cody and Kei – and chatted with Seiji for a while. But I was exhausted already from the long week, and had to teach in the morning, so I headed home. The next night was Rock Your Socks Off!, Seiji’s monthly open mic, and I went to sing, but I was still tired, and trying to take it easy for the next day, so I didn’t sing very well. Nishikori-san, the weathered blues player, was there, and Miyoshi-san, who often plays guitar with him, and Kishi-san on bass. Kuma-san is a nice guy who also plays guitar, though he’s a little shy and not as good as the others. We played and sang “Let it Be” together, and “Nagori Yuki”, a popular Japanese folk song.

I left earlier than usual because I had a shigin competition on Sunday morning, and I was exhausted the whole week. I had practiced pretty hard, because Kanda-sensei really wanted me to win the prefectural competition and go to the national competition in Shikoku in September. I wanted to win, too. I even enlisted Yumi as an interpreter the week before for a special practice at Kanda-sensei’s beautiful Japanese inn (by the end of the practice, she knew my song pretty well, especially the parts Kanda-sensei wasn’t satisfied with and drilled me on).

Seiji picked me up at 8:30 and we drove to Izumo for 9:30, where, whoops! It turned out we should have been there at 9 for the opening ceremony. I got the typical looks of a sole gaijin at a Japanese cultural event. Kanda-sensei drew me away from the crowd to practice. I began to get very nervous, especially as we practiced and Kanda-sensei pointed out I was singing too low. I just couldn’t hit those high notes, although I didn’t usually have a problem with them. So now I know, for future reference; when I’m exhausted, I sing low. I pinned the number 20 on my suit jacket and waited, sipping cold tea and slipping out once in a while to practice again. Finally, I was going onstage, giving my number, adjusting the mic, and singing. This time my knees weren’t shaking. But, lo! I did sing too low, knocking me out of the top three and blowing my chances of going to Shikoku. But otherwise I sang well, well enough to come in fifth of 29 people. I was pretty upset with myself, though, because I KNEW I could have sung well enough to win. But I hadn’t prioritised it, and I blew it. Kanda-sensei said something like, “Well, there’s always next year,” but Seiji pointed out that I’d probably be gone by competition time next year.

We drove back to Matsue and Seiji dropped me off at work, where I had to teach a special Sunday pronunciation class. Only one student showed up, but I tried to make it a good lesson for her. Miyuki, my manager, said I could go home immediately after, but I had to finish my prep for the next week’s classes, so I stayed until 5. THEN, I went home, ate, took a quick nap and went out to ARGO to say good-bye to Cat. Cat is an Australian who was here for four years on the JET Program. She wasn’t a teacher – she worked at the Board of Education as a co-ordinator of sorts. She finally decided to head home and finish her Master’s, but she found it difficult to say good-bye. I was wandering around SATY before the party, trying to think of what to get, when an object caught my eye as if illuminated by a heavenly ray of light: A banana-yellow baseball cap with the words “Sweet Juice Cat” written on it in pink and purple Barbie letters. She laughed fit to bust a gut when she saw it. It’s rare that I find the perfect present; one of the reasons I don’t really enjoy shopping for gifts. At ARGO, Cleve played some eighties hits (carefully selected by Jennifer for the occasion) and Jennifer and Cat were totally done up. In honour of Cat’s love of all things eighties, Jennifer had gone all out. And when Cat arrived, Jennifer immediately glued crazy false eyelashes on her. After a slow start which had Cat quite distressed, quite a few people made it. We had cake and Cat made a speech (slightly less rambling than Colin’s last year), and finally she told us, Aussie style, that if we didn’t come to visit her, well then bugger us. At which we cheered and toasted her. With a drink, I mean, not literally toasted her…

To say that I slept well that night was an understatement.

I finished my work on Saturday, August 2, and zipped over to Yumi’s on my bike. Yumi lives in Saiko-Machi, an old part of town built in the form of a daunting maze. But I have finally cracked it, and finding Yumi’s place without encountering a minotaur is now easy. She was preparing to put on her yukata, a colourful summer robe, like a kimono but made of cotton and simpler to put on (You have to take classes to learn how to put on a kimono by yourself). I started to put mine on too. The night was Stephen’s annual yukata party (this year called “Stephen’s Summer Splash ’08). Because of work, I couldn’t go to Yuzuriha, a lovely café/bar in Kyo-mise, for the first party. The second party was at Kaya, and Seiji had invited some minyo singers to perform traditional folk songs from the region. I still require aid in putting on my yukata, though the only problem now is putting on my obi (sash) properly. Yumi’s quite good at tying them, though she consulted her book a couple of times to do it. I wore last year’s yukata, but bought a new obi to change the look a bit. We had some wine and home-made bruschetta while we transformed. Reiko came when she finished work, too, and put on a very modern yukata, a white one with big pale blue polka dots. As they were finishing, I left to push my bike over to Kaya. That was long walk, I’ll tell you. Yukatas prevent you from taking big steps unless you pull it up in a very unladylike fashion. I finally opted for unladylike.

Kaya was really crowded that night! Everyone looked lovely in yukata or jimbei (a light cotton tunic and pants, usually indigo or dark brown in colour, worn by men; there are jimbei for women, too, but they’re REALLY bright). I saw a lot of people I knew. Kuma-san, from Open Mic nights, came but seemed a little ill at ease. He doesn’t speak much English. He sat with me and showed me cute pictures of his little boys. While we were talking, Tim came up. He’s a guy from America, but he’s lived in Japan for 17 years. He and his Japanese wife are very cool and laid-back, and Tim is an excellent musician capable of playing many instruments. Anyway he said, “I’ve got something for you,” and returned in a minute with a worn but lovely round-backed mandolin. She was missing a string, and the bridge was a broken piece of chopstick, but she was beautiful. “Found it in Yonago. It’s yours.” I remembered telling Tim once, a few months ago, that I had taken some mandolin lessons for a while, but I hadn’t exactly expected me to give me one. He gave me some advice on care and feeding, and I thanked him profusely, and he wandered off again. So now I have this lovely, damaged, fixer-upper of a mandolin to learn to play.

I was pretty distracted by the mandolin, but the singing was beginning. Jiro was singing, and so was his teacher, a lean older man in glasses and a pale blue kimono named Matsuo-sensei. Minyo is a high-pitched, keening sound, but very different from shigin. For one thing, it’s much more relaxed. Some of the songs were humorous, though of course I couldn’t understand them. Jiro and another man performed zeni-daiko, a seated dance using batons filled with coins as a kind of percussion. It was great. Then after, Seiji played jazz – he’s going through a jazz phase at Kaya these days, since he stopped paying for music videos – and put The Seven Samurai on the TV screens. I have watched The Seven Samurai without sound so many times at Kaya now. I think it’s a brilliant movie. I’ve also seen Enter the Dragon and many early Jackie Chan movies multiple times. Stephen was running around taking pictures. He was wearing massive white Paris Hilton-type sunglasses part of the night and having a grand time as the host of the party. Seiji didn’t have any help that night, so he was run off his feet, but happy too.

The next week at work dragged on, as I longed for my vacation and for a good, long sleep. It felt like a busy week, but at the end I was pleased to have finished so much, so I wouldn’t have to think about work on my vacation. The one notable thing is that Honsha, or Head Office, in Okayama, is worried about people working too much, so they have announced we have to get out of the office by 10pm. Farewell to leisurely preparing my lessons after class, during the end-of-day meeting (I don’t take part, because it’s completely in Japanese) and while everyone completes their various tasks. I was gently hustled out the door at 9:30 twice that week. I wonder how people who have more classes than I do are faring with prep. It’s time-consuming!

On Thursday when I got home, a couch had magically appeared in my apartment! Well, not quite magically. Bud has moved into Matsue to teach at one of the city schools. His old school out on the beautiful but somewhat remote Daikon-Shima (“Radish Island”) is no longer a JET school. It still will have a native English-speaking ALT, but they are hiring one from a company like AEON – much cheaper. I’ve heard rumours that all of the JETs will slowly be phased out in Shimane, in favour of contract workers. It’s too bad for the JETs. Anyway. Bud’s apartment in Matsue is much smaller and he needed to get rid of pieces of his sectional couch. So I told him that on moving day he, Yusuke and Cleve could drop it off while I was a t work, and gave my key to Cleve, along with strict instructions to stay out of my underwear drawer (After all, I wouldn’t want them to die of boredom).

Turns out it was more complicated than that, as Bud and Yusuke told me later. The corner piece of the sectional couch would not fit through my narrow door, no matter what they did. So after exhausting the possibilities, Bud looked out my balcony door and asked Yusuke, “You got rope?” And they hauled it up to my second floor window after taking the balcony doors off. They didn’t quite put them back on correctly, either. I noticed my door won’t quite lock properly. Gotta fix that.

They told me the story, with appropriate humorous gestures, at Ku-chan’s birthday party. “Ku-chan” is Cleve, whose name in phonetic Japanese is Ku-ri-bu. Adding “-chan” to a name is a term of endearment. I went to his party on Saturday, August 9, after the first night of Suigosai, the yearly fireworks festival. We watched the first night of the fireworks from Cody’s place, a seventh-story apartment with a view of the lake. Cody was nervous about his first house party and his first attempt to serve fried rice to guests (It was OK; a little garlicky, maybe, but the kimchee he added gave it nice heat). We had brought some side dishes and drinks. Martin came, and some co-workers and new acquaintances of Cody’s, and Reiko. Yumi couldn’t make it, because she had just gotten some translation work she wanted to finish before the bigger fireworks party on Sunday. The firworks were fun, but a little disappointing from distance. But there were some interesting variations: heart-shaped fireworks, smiley-face and cat-face fireworks, fireworks shaped like chrysanthemums, Martin mused that it would be very exciting to design fireworks; Cody said it would be more exciting to set them off. The perfect team.

I set off early for Kaya, because Seiji had a special Suigosai Festival Open Mic. I was in much better form, and sang with Nishikori. I sang Sheryl Crowe’s “Strong Enough” for the first time, and it was OK. I skipped out a little early to go to Cleve’s birthday party. It was hot inside and out, and Aki was DJ-ing. I chatted with Nami, Cleve’s girlfriend, outside. She was wearing a lovely white yukata. I hadn’t had time to put on a yukata, but I had worn a red top and white skirt in honour of Cleve’s Swiss heritage. Bud and Hiki were sitting outside talking with Yusuke and Yusuke’s wife Sora. Hiki is a new friend who I met at ARGO. He’s a police officer, although he doesn’t much care for his job, and an all-around jock - snowboarding, scuba-diving, rock-climbing. He and Bud get along swimmingly. He was, however, red-faced after only two beers and informed me he was a lightweight when it came to drinking. Well, he was not alone, but the party mood was festive and under control. It was too much for me, though, and I went home. It was late for me, but everyone was still going strong. Hot summer festivals will do that.

 The next was my first official day of vacation, but it was hot and I was tired, so I stayed inside most of the day. I ventured out at 3:30 and met John, my Texan co-worker from Yonago, who was planning to buy hiking boots before climbing Mount Fuji this week. I had a chance to climb Fuji-san myself about three weeks ago, when Cleve organized an expedition, but it was too expensive. After hearing some of my students talk, I’m not all that keen on climbing it. Basically to climb Fuji, you join a long line of fellow climbers and file up the mountain, watch the sun rise, then file back down again. And there are vending machines at the top! There are better mountains to climb in Japan. My oldest student, Masami, swears by the Japanese Alps in Nagoya, which he trekked over ten days in his youth. Anyway, I took John to two shoes stores in my neighbourhood, then Alpen, a sporting goods store where he finally found and acceptable pair. John’s size is his biggest problem when shopping in Japan. He’s a big, husky Texan boy with 28cm feet.

Our shopping expedition ending successfully, we went back to my place where John watched the Olympics while I put on my yukata. I had to get his help with the obi, though. My apartment was blazing hot, and sweat was dripping from my forehead. It was beginning to cool down outside, and we walked to Cody’s place, stopping to grab some beers on the way. At Cody’s, the plan to make spaghetti had been abandoned, and we ate some light snacks and pot stickers Cody had prepared while the sun sank over the lake. I was getting too excited and I wanted to be down among all the people beginning to crowd along the lakeshore, in the midst of the festival. Yumi laughed at me because I was so excited, unable to stay still and hopping like a little kid. Kaori joined us; she’s a woman I’ve known for over a year now, a nice, outgoing photographer with a big, brilliant smile. She and Yumi know each other from way back.

We finally got out the door and down to the street, emerging close to the lake into a crowd of people, some in shorts and t-shirts, others in yukatas and jimbeis. There were lots of small children around, dressed in bright jimbei and looking awfully cute. We passed the colourful food stalls, making our way to the lake. Hundreds of bicycles were lined up on the walkway in front of the museum, and the front lawn of the art museum was carpeted with people sitting on blankets, eating picnic lunches and waiting for the sun to set. There was an announcement, and Yumi said the fireworks were delayed because of a conflict with the flight patterns of airplanes flying into Izumo Airport at the far end of the lake. So we found a spot on the slope of the hill, near the giant white hand sculptures, and I went for a walk. I promptly ran into Pat and Ayako waiting in line to get some yakisoba, and told them where we were sitting. Martin contacted Cody by cellphone, and made his way over with one of his co-workers and her boyfriend. How did people find each other in huge crowds, before the advent of the cellphone? Yumi had found her parents and some friends of the family in the crowd and invited me over to meet them. They seemed really nice, and I was glad to say hello. I think I was invited over for tea sometime, too.

The fireworks were amazing. We had picked an excellent vantage point between the two barges and got a great show. There were lots of ‘ooh’s and ‘aah’s and applause from the thousands of spectators. And, of course, some children crying. I thought of my sister Tina, for whom fireworks would have been a nightmare as a child. But we were enthralled until the finale. (Last year, I desperately had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the fireworks, and spent the finale waiting with Jennifer in a line of fifty people to get into the public toilets, unable to see the show, though it sounded great…)

Addendum: August 14

This morning, I was pried out of my bed at 8 (that’s early for a holiday!) by Seiji’s phone call. Last night, I stopped at Kaya  after making a nice dinner. I’m having a karaoke birthday party at Kaya on Friday, and Seiji got the machine early because of the holiday. So we tested it out. This is an old machine, and it doesn’t work too well; you have to press a button to start each song. The goal we set ourselves was to (mostly) sing songs we hadn’t sung before. So I sang “Bleeding Love” (Leona Lewis), “Think” (Aretha Franklin), “I Will Survive” (Gloria Gaynor), “More Than Words” (Extreme) and “It’s So Easy” (Linda Ronstadt). Stephen was there when I got there, and Cody, then Reiko, came later. I got there at 9:30, and they were still singing when I left after 1:30. Anyway. Last night we talked about going to the beach, and made plans to leave at 8. When Seiji called in the morning, I was so sleepy I almost backed out. I was glad I didn’t. Cody was chilled out in the back seat when they picked me up, and we didn’t talk a lot on the drive. Seiji had slept at Kaya. He was playing the Blue Hearts, a defunct but still popular punk band that he loves dearly.

There were already quite a few people at the beach (it’s a holiday after all), and at 9am it was 35 degrees. We settled down with towels, bags, water and sunscreen in our usual place. Stephen was in the water; he had arrived at 7:30, and lambasted us for being late. Reiko joined us too, looking lovely in a pink polka dot bikini. She slathered herself in sunscreen. Apparently her boss at Port Below won’t allow her to have a tan(!) as a shop girl in the boutique, so she’s trying to be more careful after getting a definite golden glow at the beach last week. The water was a clear emerald colour, darkening to deep blue at the horizon, with patches of seaweed drifting at the bottom. I drifted and swam lazily, enjoying the coolness. There was a strong breeze, too; a couple of times the tents and sun umbrellas nearby made a break for it, and had to be tamed and secured by their owners. We had to give up the idea of Frisbee.

Between dips, I dozed on the beach and people-watched. There a couple of dads squatting in the water with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other as their kids splashed around them. There was a guy who was so dark I didn’t think he was Japanese at first, playing on his boogie board, skimming the waves in the shallow water. A group of young beachgoers had set up a volleyball net, and were enjoying a free and easy game. Lots of kids in inflatable rings were kicking themselves in circles. The Beach House was playing some reggae. Cody dug up a crab from the sea bottom to show one little boy, and got pinched for his troubles. He also pointed out to me a little jellyfish. They are much smaller than I expected. This one looked like a bubble about the size of a marble, with four little brownish tentacles, each about an inch long, trailing behind it. Hard to believe something so small could be so painful. Seiji said it was ‘cute.’ After years of getting stung at the beach, it doesn’t matter much to him. He even once got a jellyfish in the face once, swimming backwards; the marks were very dramatic, he said.

The guys took a trip to the Beach House, and returned with mango-flavoured shaved ice and yakisoba, a kind of grilled noodle. We all shared the food and enjoyed the breeze. Finally, with the hot noon sun beating down, we decided to take off. Seiji and Cody had plans to see The Dark Knight in Izumo in the afternoon. I came home, and caught up on my sleep. Yay vacation!