This week I’ve been in the office at the town culture center since its summer break and I don’t have any classes. I’ve mostly been doing stuff on the computer and surfing the web (”prepare for next semester?” - uh, this year my lesson planning has been effectively reduced to zero, so not much to do there).

This afternoon had a little change of pace, there was a shamisen and flute concert at the culture center. The shamisen is a traditional Japanese instrument, a bit like a banjo. Check out the Wikipedia link for some audio and video files. I’ve seen it played occasionally, it seems to be having a bit of a revival. Sometimes I see young guys playing it along Hondori in Hiroshima at night instead of the guitar.

Anyways, it was pretty good. The two guys played for about an hour and a half, with a bit of chatter mixed in. The audience was mostly seniors, but a class of the oldest kindergarten students attended the first half. So they mixed in some children’s songs along with the more traditional ones. They even did the opening theme to My Neighbor Totoro, to which the kids sang along. Really cute! (^o^)

Yes, today is the two year anniversary of my arrival in Japan — 730 days. I’ve seen and done a lot of things, had many good and a few bad experiences. I’ve blogged about some of them here, but really just a tiny fraction (especially in the last year). I hope that I’ll write up a more reflective impression of my time here so far (but don’t hold your breath), but in case I don’t here’s a list of about 130 experiences I’ve had here over the last couple years. If I remember more, I’ll add them. Some are significant, some are pretty trivial, but its that combination that makes up life. I wonder how many more I’ll add during my remaining 365 or so days…

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Last night I went to see the fireworks at Hiroshima’s Ujina port. Really big crowds, the streetcars were packed and everything else you’d expect. The show wasn’t bad, but the ones at Miyajima and Iwakuni that I’ve seen were more impressive. I probably could’ve found a nicer spot with a view of the water, but that’d meant wading thru more crowds (and I arrived just as it was beginning). After the show was over, I walked for about a half hour along the streetcar route until I saw some people getting off and then got on for the rest of the trip to the station.

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Starting today I’m taking a week of vacation. I’ve got a few too many vacation days, so I need to use them before I lose them. I’d hoped to take a little trip to Korea, but I don’t think I’ve got the funds for that at the moment. Also, since its typhoon season its not the best time to visit there anyways (they had some nasty flooding last week from what I saw on the news). I’ll see if I can make that trip on one of the three day weekends in September or October. Temperatures will be more comfortable too…

So instead I’ll probably try to take some day trips or stuff like that. Haven’t really decided where yet, just have to see. Actually I should probably spend the entire time cleaning house. ^_^;; I do have a couple plans for this weekend: tomorrow I’ll go see some fireworks in Hiroshima and Sunday I’m going to a work party at a beer garden in Hiroshima.

Up until this morning I’d only noticed one earthquake in the almost two years I’ve been here. I’ve probably missed a few, especially since I’m usually a kinda heavy sleeper. But today’s in Oita Prefecture in Kyushu woke me at 5:01AM. Bed felt like someone was gently shaking it and kinda got my attention. Not sure how long it lasted, maybe a minute or two. Nothing damaged in the house that I’ve noticed, though a clock fell over (and I had to replace the battery for some reason…), a cup fell out of the kitchen cabinet (which I’d left open, oops) and a penguin figure fell off its shelf (there were no injuries). Apparently it was a 4 on the 1-7 Japanese scale in my area (which means shaking and things falling over, but no damage). It was a 5 in Hiroshima, according to reports, so maybe some slight damage in the city.

Anyways it definitely messed up the train schedule, probably throwing it at least an hour off. I had to ask my supervisor to drive me to Koda JHS as a result.