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Last word from Iya

June 2004

Has it been more than two months since the last time I wrote? It's been such a busy few weeks, and it's just going to get busier in the next month as I get ready to move from Iya to Tokushima, and prepare for the madness of Tokyo Orientation in late July. I'd like to write more regularly, but for now, I expect my next missive will arrive in your inbox in late August, when things calm down a little. This will be my last word from Iya.

Well, that's not strictly true. I'm sat at a coffee table in a corner of the Keio Plaza Hotel here in Tokyo just now. Having arrived just this morning by plane from Tokushima, this is my third visit to the big city in the last month. Tokyo doesn't get any smaller for the number of times I've come here, but I can find my way to Shinjuku with my eyes closed these days. In late May, we had the AJET National Council changeover meeting and another meeting with the government body that organises the JET Programme. We followed that up with a JET conference in Kobe in the first week of June and a similar conference in Tokyo the next week. Now we're back to start working on the orientation conferences, another two day meeting with about 120 JETs from all over the country. It's nice to be busy, but dare I say that Tokyo is getting a bit old hat? :)

There's so much to catch up on from the past two months. I could write an epic to beat all my past efforts, but today's meeting is starting soon, so here are the bare bones of my adventures since mid-April.

THE AJET GAMES TOUCH RUGBY TOURNAMENT that I hosted with a team of mates here in Tokushima on April 17-18 was a great success. The captain of the winning team, the Gaijin Ninja, even went so far as to call it the best organised touch footy event she'd ever been to. We didn't organise the weather, but that happened to be perfect, too - so good, in fact, that several teams decided that a swim in the Yoshino River was in order at the end of Saturday's play. You won't see Japanese people in the water until June! This inaugural AJET Games event was followed up just this month by another top event in Hyogo-ken, Ultimate Frisbee. I have high hopes for the AJET Games over the next few years.

AWA ODORI SEASON got started in earnest in April, and got particularly busy in Golden Week. The roads get busy in Golden Week, too, unfortunately, but I was lucky to be driving in the opposite direction to all the traffic. Departing around lunch time to head off to dancing one day, I remember a continuous line of traffic trying to get to Iya's famous vine bridge, Kazurabashi, stretching all the way back to Ikeda, some 30 clicks up the road. I heard they had over 1000 people passing through the local onsen and a wait of about an hour to cross the bridge on the heaviest days! All that traffic meant good crowds for our performances and lots of money for Nishiiya, though, so it wasn't all bad.

Speaking of Awa Odori, just last Saturday, I had an interview with a producer from NHK, the national public broadcaster here in Japan. Apparently, their international production division is looking to cover Awa Odori this year with a LIVE BROADCAST TO INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCES. Somehow, I was scouted as possible talent for the show, being a native English speaker, a resident of Tokushima and possibly the only local foreigner dancing regularly and able to speak a little about the dance's history and customs. So, if you happen to be able to get NHK World, you might see me on TV on August 13 at around 6pm Japan time. Fingers crossed! :)

Back to Golden Week and MY HOLIDAY TO KYUUSHUU. Braving the congested highways with my road trip companion, Amanda, we took the ferry from the western tip of Shikoku to Kyuushuu's easternmost prefecture, Oita, before continuing straight across the island to Nagasaki. In a very similar way to Hiroshima, Nagasaki is beautiful in a way that completely belies the fact that it was laid to waste by an atomic bomb just 60 years ago. We stayed there a couple of nights and took in the waterfront and, of course, the peace memorials, before getting back in the Honda Civic to head down to Kagoshima. Another long drive later, we arrived at our campground in time to pitch our tent in the dark and got up the next morning to hike around a couple of very pretty volcanic craters at Karakunidoke. Finishing the day with a fantastic onsen, we slept well that night and were a little sad to wake up and have to go home already after only four days. I guess I'll just have to go back some day!

I should also mention NARA, which I toured briefly with Mum and Dad when they stopped over in Japan on their way back to Oz from England. Besides for the great company of my parents, Nara itself is pretty and easy to take in. Three hours strolling around the park with the deer is enough to take in Nara's famous Daikobutsu, a massive statue of Buddha, and several major sites dating from the ancient time when Nara was Japan's capital. It's just a quick train ride from Osaka, so check it out if you have a spare day stopping over in Japan!

It's been so long between mails that I guess few of you even know that I GOT MYSELF A NEW JOB IN TOKUSHIMA CITY. The JET Programme has recently introduced a small number of fourth and fifth year positions, and one of these happened to open up in Tokushima city this year. I had to go through an interview in Japanese, but everything worked out nicely, so I'm now looking forward to taking up my new role as a city JET in August. It'll be a huge change of scene. My new apartment will be half the size of the one I'm in here, but is much closer to, well, everything except the vine bridge. The population of "Tokkers" is more than 100 times that of Iya and my schools will be bigger, too. I'll also be getting a new car, since I have to leave the Mini Pajero for my replacement. She's been such a good car... sniff!... but I think I'm lining up for a Honda Civic. The Kyuushuu road trip was a good chance to have a test drive. :)

The east part of Iya won't be getting a JET this year, but my successor in the west is a Canadian lad named Josef. We've already been in touch and he seems well up for the adventure he's about to land in. I guess we'll meet in Tokyo! I'm just glad that after two Americans and an Aussie, the kids will get to learn about a new land and a different race of people. They might even learn some French. In any case, I can only wish Josef the very best as he takes up residence in the best little corner of Shikoku. I think he'll be great, which is as it should be.

There's so much I haven't said about Iya that I've wanted to say, despite having had three years to do so. Three years is time enough to write a thesis, like the one I left unfinished in Brisbane. Time enough for my students to grow up and graduate from not just one school but the next as well. Time enough for the vines on a famous old bridge to need replacing. Time enough to learn a language, or at least part of it. Time enough to make and lose and remake a few friends. And time enough to have some crazy adventures that you never imagined three years ago.

But right now, I have just time enough to share a haiku with you. I thought it up in Japanese, so the English translation seems a bit awkward to me, but it'll do. And then, I guess I will be done.

Itsumademo
Kokoro no naka ni
Iya no kao

Always and ever
Remembered inside my heart
Faces of Iya

Love,

Dave