My bike license

 Just before moving to Japan I sold my bike. It was Suzuki SV650S of 2003 model year. And I had no intension of getting bike in Japan. But after we've explored some of Japan's fine mountain roads I could not resist anymore and decision was made.

  But there was a big "BUT" (there always is). My converted license only allowed me to have a bike up to 400cc, which is clearly insufficient for two people on the bike to have fun. And so I got into this adventure of getting a full motorcycle license in Japan.

  First two times I failed. Now I know why, of course. They look at everything: how you sit on the bike, the way you grab clutch and break levers, which way you look and when, if you put blinker 3 sec before the move and how far from the white line you stop. One can fail the exam just when getting on the bike before even starting the engine.

  And the funny thing is that you have to know all that - nobody tells you, unless you go to riding school, which I had to do eventually. 

  After 3 lessons it was clear what to do and how, so I went for another try. Yes, I forgot to mention that for every try I had to take a day off (or half day off) at work. And this time I failed because of the old tires on the test bike (no grip under hard breaking) - ridiculous. Nobody passed on that day.

  And so I went again. It was raining and I failed braking again - my fault this time.

  And I went again. Now I was nervous and scared of braking exercise (stopping within certain distance from 40km/h), so I hit the brake too early - and failed.

 And I went again. 6th time... There were some minor mistakes, but you never know if you passed or not just after you finish the course: you have to wait until after lunch (about 2 hours). They then inform you the result and let you apply for next try. My file was not in the pile for the next exam - that's when I knew I made it.

  Yesterday we found the bike of our current dreams and it will be ours in two weeks.  

Going out =))

  A month ago couple of nice people left Japan. They are back to Belgium. This is the last evening - karaoke - one of the most popular japanese entertainments =)

A shrine to be cleaned...

  There is a town near Toyota city. The town of Okazaki. 

Everybody who takes train to get to Toyota Technical Center in the morning knows this name. And in this city there are shrines. And some of them are being cleaned on Sunday...

  Saturday evening, when Hiraoka-san was still at our place having dinner, he mentioned this tradition to us. The neighborhood around the shrine is divided into groups and each group has to clean the area around shrine at a given Sunday, once a year. So that Sunday was their turn. That was one of the reasons he needed to wake up early (hence there is still beer in our fridge).

  We, on the other hand, are very curious about every non-tourist aspect of Japanese life, so we could not miss this opportunity to learn something new.

  And there we were the next morning, getting in the car at 8.00 to find surprisingly busy roads as we drove south. That area is full of cherry blossom! No wonder he did not go anywhere special to see this with his family...

  So they gave us gloves and asked to pick the grass from the lawn. And in 20 min everybody was done. We thought this would take a least couple of hours. 

  Apparently what's important here is not the final result (although, there was much less grass in the end), but your commitment. The good thing is that you don't have to do this - that's why everybody was there.

  Later we had a cup of tea at Hiraoka-san's place and he showed me some items from his camera's collection. Film cameras that is. Truly impressive. That is really a collection, because a man does not need all these just to take pictures.

  One day I hope to have another look.

More pictures of Sakura here.

More pictures of the shrine here.

Japanese Lessons

  My teacher of Japanese is a very, very nice woman. She is super smart and intelligent: she was traveling around the Europe for 40 days, her husband is a professor at the Aichi University, she likes impressionists and speaks English and French... But she is so japanese =)

  I have one hour lesson twice a week. But sometimes the hour is not enough... So last time I was so excited I was making some progress that I simply kept asking the questions. The clock which I had in front of me (it was standing on the cupboard) kept showing me that we still have 20 minutes to go. Suddenly she said something like: "I'm terribly sorry but we have to finish for today because I have to go out". I was looking at the clock - still 20 minutes to go. So I was doubting if I would say it to her or not... But then I decided to say nothing this time 'cause usually she is so nice =) So I stood up and then accidentally I looked at my watch... What did I see??? It was half an hour later than the finish hour of our lesson!!! She didn't dare to say to me that the lesson was over half an hour ago. Now it was my turn to say: "Sumimasen" which means... of course, "I'm sorry" =)

Okkawa "Dashi" Festival and delicious greek food

  Every week-end there is a festival somewhere in Japan. If you are ready to travel around the country every week-end you can experience the joyful atmosphere, nice japanese food and deserts that you buy on a street and eat on a street too (you would be happy if you would find an empty meter of local road border so you can seat on it) and watching a lot of people hanging around searching for a drink =)

  This Sunday it was the "Dashi" Festival in Okkawa - small town near Nagoya. This is a very dangerous festival to carry floats up and down the hill. Young men who take the first position of a steersman can merry the most beautiful girl in  Okkawa area. Of course now it's only a tradition, but the men are fighting for the important place as it was long time ago. The clothes which everybody in town wears on this day is hundred years old (literally). They don't wash it so it does not bleach.

  The Dashi's (floats) are extremely beautiful. They have such a fine chasing that you can admire it for hours. On the top of them there is a place for performance of karakuri mechanical dolls which is very strange for the western eyes and even more strange for the ears.

  By 13:30 all the men are gathering at the Dashi's, the most exciting part begins: the Dashi's have to be pushed down the hill. The guys are very excited, we think they have drunk not less then a liter of sake per person  so they are completely ready for their assignment. The person in red gives the order to start and the first Dashi starts moving. 50 people are busy pushing and pulling it down the hill. Everybody is shouting, the leader of the group shouts "Fight, guys! Fight!!!", everybody is drunk, so the whole dragging is a complete mess =) When the Dashi is down the hill, the children can take part in pulling it too. So the rope becomes 25 meters longer and 50 more people (but this time these are small children) can drag the Dashi along the streets of Okkawa. Everybody is enjoying the party.

  Forgot to tell that a woman is not allowed to touch the Dashi or to walk inside the ropes - bad luck. So when a small girl accidentally steps over the rope, the mother is extremely angry and explains her that she can never ever do it again. 

  All these details we've learnt from a woman, who simply came to us and started talking. Apparently she worked for TMC (Toyota Motor Corporation) for ten years and was curious what are two "gajins" doing at the quite local festival. 

The full photo gallery is here.

  As we are not the citizens of the town for us it's enough to see the Dashi has come to the place safely, so we leave for the other nice place that we discovered last week while we were searching for the nice views of the Ume (japanese plum) blossom. It is Soori lake, which is also not so far from Nagoya and has a very nice park around it. The weather is absolutely beautiful, it's 24 degrees and the sun is shining! We've even got some red skin at the end of the day =) There we make all our "Ume blossom" pictures and we are sure to come there a lot more for a nice terrace near a small artificial river with an astonishing view on the blossoming trees.

  Sunday is a calm day. First Sergey's training for the motorcycle driving license (it' a long story, so as soon as he gets the license it will be published =) and in the evening - dinner at Dimi's place (Greek cuisine). He cooked "mussaka" for us and in combination with Ume wine and Chimay Blue it was finger-licking good!

February 14th

Yes.