A good-bye barbeque

On Saturday, I joined the Ishizuka and Yoshida Families (minus Michiyo and Taiji, repectively) for a great barbeque at Minoru's favorite spot in Kikuchi. The weather was a good 35 degrees. But the river was high which allowed some fun in the water with the kids. It was a great time until my sandal fell off and floated away. On the way back, we paused to pick a few of the blooming sunflowers in Shisui.

City Hash, July 17, 2005

The blazing 35c afternoon of July 17 witnessed the 32nd running of the Kyushu Hash House Harriers (The Professor’s Return). With Disco A** set on organizing a successful day after a minor fiasco in Miyazaki last month, the group gathered in front of Kumamoto Station among sleeping ojiisans and yelping school girls. The group set out and was quickly confused by the diverging trails and maze of ancient shrines and monuments of the Kitaoka Nature Park. Then it was on through the noodle-thin streets of Yokote Machi. The trails meandered through forgotten toriis and emerged at the newly gutted Shimasaki Quarry (as seen before on Champon Adventures). With an option to bask in the ectoplasmic green waters of the ancient quarry, the hashers made their way east back towards the city. On Home was reached after the trail wound through the raked rock gardens of the Hosokawa Mansion, a bum residence and the massive parking lot for the high school baseball tournament. Everyone found relief in the cool breeze and ample shadiness of Ninomaru Park. As the clouds rolled in and the lightning began, a rousing religion was held. The gods rumbled their approval, for Disco A** had made these hashers smile.


The dirty details:

-25 heads turned out. There were 7 immortals and about 7 virgins along with 4 Miyazakians, a long way from home.

- A more-red-than-usual Alastair finished the course about 10 minutes after Disco A** and caused DA’s heart to jump when he earlier cried in anguish happening upon the YBF.

- No one was overcome by the heat to the point of medical attention. Thanks for doin’ it safe everyone.

- 2 hashers merit special attention for their (before the jump) loins of steel. James and Mark took up my offer of an 8m jump into the quarry lake. Its radiated sacred waters instantaneously rendered them uber-impo.

- There were 3 immortalizations on the day:
　　
(1) – Alastair was coined “Red Raja” after many stellar hash performances. His blazing red speed and hair to match along with his genealogy of Indian oppression were brought to light.
(2) – Nancy, always bringing her legendary genkiness to each hash was made into Sister “Poo Ticket” —the Japanese toilet paper brand bearing her name(Hello! Nancy!) and its Aussie slang term.
(3) – Miyazaki hare Emily was baptized as “Jacko Flash”. She has previously introduced the hash (and alcohol: one in the same) to young high school boys in MiyaBama. Also quoted was her great hash performances and propensity to shed her inhibitions at various times.

- After about a year hiatus, Professor Quintana marked a successful return to the hash thanks to its Sunday placement.

- A big thanks to everyone who made it out. It’s great to have such numbers and especially a good number of first-timers. Keep spreading the word.

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On the occasion of personally completing 3 happy years on the Kumamoto/Kyushu HHH, I want to share some facts and personal shout outs. Most of this information can be found in the ever-expanding Official Kyushu Hash Excel Spreadsheet. You can see a small sample here or download it from the Kumamoto AJET Yahoo!Groups page. Make it yours today!








This was the 32nd running of the hash. I have been a hare or a co-hare for 10 hashes. I have not missed a hash in the last 3 years here, that’s 24 of them. I’ve also hashed in Hong Kong, Singapore and I will hash soon in Thailand. We have had some excellent hashes this year. 4 out of 9 hashes brought crowds of over 20. The hash is alive and well. Big shouts to Kumamoto Hash founders Austin, aka Sakuraba, and James Ringworm. Also, hash legends Muppet, Fracas, Lettuce, Sonic-san—you’d be proud. I am happy to have continued the tradition during my time in Japan. This has been my livelihood while I have been here and I will miss it. I am confident this strong tradition will continue for many years. Sh*tf*ck, Sliced Bush, Nuck-a-Nuts, Jacko Flash, Bitchiro and all you other immortals that will be sticking around: You have been chosen from many to show others the way. Keep it up here and in Miyazaki and bring it elsewhere. Be proud of who you are, don’t forget your roots and most of all, ON ON!

If you happen to have the picture from the starting box, could you mail it to me or post it in comments? Thanks.

Last Lesson

Today, I had my last English classes in Japan. I decided to play a game of maru/batsu. It is the Japanese version of true/false, where I read a statement and the students walk to the true or false side of the room and rack up points if they're right. I made all the statements about myself and Japan. Here were the questions, how many could you get right?


1 Mark is 26 years old.
2 Mark eats onigiri for breakfast. (rice ball wrapped in seaweed)
3 In Korea, Mark ate dog. (actually it was China)
4 Mark went surfing for the first time in Miyazaki.
5 Mark studies Kanji by watching Japanese Comedy TV Programs.
6 Mark will travel to Africa when he leaves Japan.
7 Mark’s brother Joe lived in Fukuoka.
8 Mark thinks the most delicious takoyaki is in Osaka. (octopus dough ball)
9 Mark went snowboarding in Hokkaido and Nagano.
10 Mark passed 2kyu Japanese test. (3kyu)
11 Mark know the kanji for ”へ” 屁　(fart).
12 Mark had a bicycle, motorbike and a car in Japan.
13 Mark always likes to eat school lunch.
14 Mark has been to the Kumamoto Fish Auction.
15 Mark went scuba diving in Thailand.
16 Mark lives on a farm in America.
17 Mark say Aya Ueto at a shopping mall in Tokyo.　(popular Japanese pop star)
18 Mark watched the sumo championship in Fukuoka.
19 Mark has been to Australia and New Zealand.
20 Mark can write his first and last name in katakana in less than 5 seconds. (マークフィンガーハット）

words to leave by

I recently had the going away party at my Board of Education. We are asked to get in front and say a few words. Some people don't think much of it, but to me, it's pretty important. Especially because I have been in Japan for 3 years, it's more than "thanks, good-bye." It's chance to show the people who work so hard to make out jobs here much easier, make our jobs possible. The speech to them should be in Japanese, for obvious reasons, and to show them you have cared enough the last few years to take some time to study a bit. I wrote it myself with helpful corrections and suggestions by Manami. So here was my speech, good luck, jf:

If you can't read the Japanese characters, mess with your encoding in your browser.

こんばんは

私はマーク　フィンガーハットです。

これまでの３年間、早かったです。私は江南、江原そして花陵の３つの中学校に勤務（きんむ）していました。３中学校とも、とても楽しかったです。まず、江南中学校の生徒たちの英語のレベルはとても高いと感（かん）じました。そして江原中学校と花陵中学校の生徒たちは、英語を使うことを躊躇（ちゅうちょ）せず、私とcommunicationをとってくれ、たくさんの面白い日本語を教えてくれました。その中で、私が一番、気に入（い）っているのが、帰る時に使う“さよ　おなら”です。しつれいしました。

この３年間、私は本当にたくさんの助けが必要（ひつよう）でした。以前（いぜん）、教職員課に勤務（きんむ）されていた長田さん、退職（たいしょく）された横田さん、そして教職員課の吉住さん、清藤さん、樋口さん。
本当にありがとうございました。とても感謝（かんしゃ）しています。

最後に、私はこれから少しの間、東南アジアを旅行して、そのあとアメリカでの生活を始めたいと思っています。日本、そして熊本のことは絶対（ぜったい）に忘れません。将来（しょうらい）は日本語を使った仕事をしてみたいです。
現在、熊本にたくさんの友達ができましたが、親戚（しんせき）もできました。兄ジョーの おくさんのご家族のみなさんです。

熊本でたくさんの思い出ができました。本当にお世話になりました。ありがとうございました。

Tasaki Market, Kumamoto 田崎市場

I e-mailed my friend Jamie the other day and told him I was about to go to the fish auction. He replied: "whoa, I didn't know you were in Tokyo, when are you coming back?"

Hard to believe, but there is a fairly huge fish market/auction right here in Kumamoto. It's located about 2km west of Kumamoto Station in Tasaki Machi. This past Thursday, Joe D and I joined two of my Karyo JH teachers for an early-morning tour. We met the teachers at about 5:30am then headed over to the market. I was manning the video camera so Joe snapped all these photos.


Mr. Fukushima, Joe and I pose with our official market tourist hats. Too fly.


All these guys gather every morning among rows and rows of styrofoam boxes filled with all kinds of sea animals. The guy standing above everyone runs the auction.




Squid, bloody Tuna tails and my current desktop photo. Gorgeous shot, Joe.



A large Tuna is cut into more managable pieces before being sliced into the classic sushi shape.



After getting our fill of fish guts, we headed over to the fruits and vegetable market. These watermelon line up for shipment. There is also an auction for fruits and veggies, this was more organized and formal than the fish auction.

At about 7am, we ducked into a tiny shop for a delicious breakfast of Maguro-don. It was a heaping bowl of raw tuna with and egg on top with seaweed slices and mountain potato. We poured soy sauce and wasabi on top. One of the freshest and most delicious breakfasts i've ever had. Finally, it was time to go back home and freshen up for a long day at school. On the way, we spotted this hip hop fan. I think she was just coming home from a long night of clubbin'. SEXY!