My Life Lately

Deep in the forests of Nagato lurks Mara kan-non, or The Penis Temple as it is known to many. From what I can gather, the story goes that on September 1, 1551, Yoshitaka Ouchi (of the ruling feudal family in Yamaguchi) committed suicide at a nearby temple. This was seen as an honourable way out to avoid being slain by the advancing enemy. Hara-kiri was the Samurai tradition of death by slicing open your own stomach with your sword. A young boy of the same family disguised himself as a woman and hid himself in the mountains to avoid capture. He was found the next spring and had his penis cut off before being killed. The locals built this shrine as a memorial to his spirit and hold a sutra-chanting Buddhist festival annually.

These days couples visit Mara kan-non to pray for their fertility. Silly ALTs also visit to take photos of themselves in various poses with the many penises on display. Probably rather offends the locals, actually.



Well someone's been eating their weetbix...


So folks, it has been an interesting few weeks since I got back from NZ. The newbies are bringing the party and I am enjoying the weekends full of clocking up the kms, bakery breakfasts, camping, and the new record for the most bags of recyclable glass and aluminium (read beer cans and wine bottles) outside my house. Yokoyama-san, the angel, cleared them when I was at work and put them God knows where. I am also thinking of becoming a DJ after I leave JET. My laptop has been churning out some hits we haven't heard for a while, think DMX and Peter Andre, for the dancing girls (and boys).

Went to Hiroshima on Monday (public holidays abound!) and took Cho-rong. She is leaving in February and I said she absolutely must go to Hiroshima before leaving. The weather was sunny but cool. We had a perfect lunch at Andersen after seeing the peace park and museum and then shopped for Halloween costumes at Tokyu Hands department store in the afternoon. Fajitas at Kembys, a game of pool and we were on the road home. We get out of Hiroshima navigating the city bypass and getting ourselves onto the right expressway thinking we are hot stuff. Then we find out the expressway is closed. We get off, take directions from the old guy in the toll booth for Hagi and set out with a map all in kanji.

Forty-five minutes later we realise the old guy was either getting one back on the gaijins or smoking too much oregano in the toll booth cos we were waaay off (even though we have an 1-kyu Japanese speaker in the car). We retrace our steps and figure we need to take the 434 to get to Tokuyama. We make a turn and drive another 45 minutes along the 434 before we realise we are driving towards a river gorge and if you turn the map upside down and once to the right, there are actually two 434's on the map. Retracing steps again and the ol' gasoline is running pretty low, it's midnight, there are no lights anywhere and we have to swerve to dodge a couple of possums. Finally, after me teaching Cho-rong some English she'd never heard before and slamming the car door for effect a few times, we get onto the correct 434 for Tokuyama. We trundle in looking for a 24-hour gas station and some Diet Coke.
Arrived home at 2am thinking why, God, why.
But it's all cool now.
Scary!