Learning the Language and other tidbits

Hello all, sorry for the delay in post writing, I wish I could say I’ve been keeping myself too busy to write, but it’s probably mostly due to apathy and laziness. Anyways that changes today with this post.

Probably the most exciting news, at least to me, is that on Sunday I did manage to get into both the Japanese classes I had hoped to take at the international center. At first I thought this wasn’t going to be possible due to the sheer number of people at the sign-ups, but I suppose my super beginner style classes just weren’t all that popular. Oh well, makes things better for me, right? I’ve tried to read through my textbooks, but found this to be a relatively pointless venture as there is very little English and almost all Japanese. Also knowing that the classes are going to be taught in basically all Japanese really makes it easy for me to sympathize with the students at my school who are in the same situation with English. I guess that just leaves it up to me to sink or swim and in the end, that’s the best situation to learn in. It’s true that I’m a little nervous about how it will go, but mostly I’m excited because this is one of the steps to help me really get inside the Japanese culture rather than just viewing from the outside in. Also, I am also happy because this should give me a chance to meet people outside of my work and judging from the people at sign-ups this will include not only other westerners, but a good deal of Brazilians and other Asians as well. I may not be able to understand too much of what they say and they might not be able to understand me, but that won’t shake the bonds of common language study, right? Anyways, next week are my first real classes (3 hours worth) so I will be sure to update then with the play by play of how they went.

In other news I finally purchased a decoration for my apartment on Monday and to top it off, it’s even traditional Japanese! I was at a thrift store I sometimes visit when I noticed a big price tag noting that a wall scroll was on sale. Before I had never really looked at the scrolls because I figured they would be too expensive (I know they are in the US) but when I actually looked, this thrift store had them for anywhere from 1000-3500yen (roughly $10-$35 US). I was especially happy because behind a bunch of other scrolls, I found the one that is currently on my wall.

As you can see, it depicts a winter scene which I think is not only cool, it also helps remind me of home (where I am told it is STILL snowing like crazy). I am excited to have bought my first wall scroll, but I doubt it will be my last due to how cool and cheap they are here, I am sure my apartment walls will be covered in them soon. Actually, I take back calling them cheap (as I am sure many of you may be receiving gifts of authentic Japanese wall scrolls for upcoming events) in actuality they are very expensive and rare….yeah.

So ends my blogging for the day, time to get ready for another day of work (which is going well by the way, so real complaints). So till next time, have a good one and keep in touch.

Matane,

-Cory

Giri-post

Greetings and salutations,

I find myself posting today because I feel like I should, after all it’s been a while since my last post and I am sure you all have just been feeling rapt with anticipation over what would come next. The problem is I am feeling very little to write. I know I should have plenty to write considering I have been on vacation and fairly active, but I suppose it’s just a nasty case of bloggers block I’ll have to force my way through. On with the show.

As I said, I have been on vacation the past week (and still have two days to go) and for the most part I’ve tried to keep it a nice break from work, active but not exhausting. I’ve continued my hunt for temples and am happy to report that another four have been found, including one hidden gem just a couple minutes from my house. Pictures will come forthwith so you all can see. I did have a very enjoyable night on the town Thursday as Jeff from my initial training group ventured back to Nagoya for the night and we barhopped a bit in Sakae. It was the basic evening consisting of increasingly hilarious elevator rides, poorly executed bilingual pick-up attempts and a drunken Japanese chef having his hand lit on fire. I also was able to experience the Japanese internet cafe for the first time, but more on that in the culture notes below.

In other news, I did make the final preparations for getting my internet set up, now it’s just a matter of waiting for the installation, which due to the long holiday and general Japanese slowness, will not be for about two and a half weeks. My front patio wireless access has returned, however, so I suppose there is little reason for concern.

Also today I visited the Nagoya International Center (great gaijin resource by the way http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/) and looked into Japanese courses. Sign up and interviews for the courses are next week and I am hoping to get into both the basic conversation and writing classes. The nice thing about these classes are that they are cheap (if I do both classes it would be about $70 for 11 classes per course and that includes materials) but besides that I figure it will also be a good way to get out and meet some new people. I am pretty excited about this, so I’ll keep you posted with the results.

Now on a culture note I would like to explain to you all the amazing concept of the Japanese internet cafe. Sure, we have internet cafes in the States, a place where you can check your email and maybe have a cup of coffee, but the Japanese variety are a whole different animal. First you will notice that when you walk in you pay by the hour, with package deals of up to six hours. After this you will be assigned to a cubical containing the PC and usually a TV. Also all around are racks of magazines, manga books and DVDs, all open for use and also stands of instant noodle bowls and other such quick foods available for purchase near the counter. Now from an initial western sense, one might wonder just what people are doing in these places, closed away for hours on end in front of a computer, but look a little deeper an the actual purpose is clear. It’s not simply a place to check emails or play a quick game, but rather it’s simply a relatively cheap place to be, open 24hours and off the streets.

This resource is invaluable to those who have been out drinking, missed the last subway home and need a place to chill out until they start up again. This was the group I found myself in Thursday night when Jeff and I needed to kill a few hours near Sakae before we could get home and for a couple of bucks we had a comfortable space, plenty of entertainment and no hassles. Also it’s worth noting that once you are inside, there’s really nothing to sketchy about the places as everything was clean and well kept. I am sure I will someday return under similar circumstances.

Well I feel like that’s about all I can force myself to write at the moment. Apologies for the crappy, somewhat disjointed post. Promise I’ll do better next time.

Ja ne,

-Cory

ps. “Giri” is the Japanese concept of obligation, such as in gift giving. It’s great to learn, cause knowledge is power.

A little high, a little low….mostly high

Howdy friends, family and loyal fans…..or fan as I only know of one of you out there. Anyway, sorry for the long delay in posting, but it has been a kind of interesting week. I’ll start with the lows.

Well, I’ve spoken before about how I finally started to feel like I was in another country for various reasons and now I can add one more, but it wasn’t so nice as the others, I got food poisoning. I am sure I had it coming as my body wouldn’t have been fully adjusted already and it seems like I have been seeking out the worst kinds of foods I could possibly find. Funny thing is that I don’t think it was caused by any of the weird stuff I’ve been eating, instead the main culprit was some undercooked chicken. I started feeling the effects Tuesday night and it made for kind of a bad start to the week as I was taken out of work for two days (which made me feel even worse) and I could do little but move between my bed and the bathroom completely unable to eat and hardly able to sleep due to stomach cramps and the such. Enough about that though as I feel completely recovered now (so no need to worry) and have a good mind to change my eating habits, so we’ll see how that goes. That was really the main low point of the week, although also of note is that the wireless internet I had been using successfully for a while now from my kitchen has disappeared, so I have had to spend some time seeking out other alternatives. It will be very nice when I have my own connection again.

Well that’s enough of the lows, so let’s move on to the highs. First and foremost it is now Golden Week. For those of you who don’t know of it, GW is a big vacation time in Japan where schools are out and many businesses have some sort of time off. For me this means I am off for the next 9 days on paid vacation. Connected to this, good point number two is that I visited Kyoto for the first time to help kick off the week. Kyoto is the old capitol of Japan and is famous for it’s temples and scenery. It was just a quick day trip (Kyoto is not that far from Nagoya) but I still managed to see a lot.

One cool thing that I didn’t expect to do was take a ride on this old style steam train through a gorgeous valley and along side a river. It’s apparently a popular attraction, but I hadn’t known it existed before.

Outside of that the day was spent exploring temples, which has become sort of my past time. With the help of my Japanese friend acting as my guide, we managed to avoid a lot of the super crowded places and found some out of the way, but still amazing sites.

Also a high point of lesser note is that I finally got my cellphone this past Friday and in only two days it’s already made life 10 times easier. I’ll repeat, don’t take your phones for granted because you’ll miss them when they’re gone.

Well that is about all for now. I’m doing my best to make plans for the holiday, so I will keep you all informed of the adventures, so until then stay tuned, same bat time, same bat channel.

Matane,

-Cory

A Real Good Day

Alright, so as promised here is a full blog entry about my bike trip yesterday.

First and foremost, let me tell you about my new bicycle. I decided to just buy a new one and avoid the hassle of dealing with a used one which would have required me to register at a police station and prove it’s mine, blah blah blah, but with a new one the bike shop takes care of all that for you.

Anyways, she came from a bike shop next to my school and is a classic Japan-style one gear cruiser with a basket and a bell. Her name is Molly and I’ve already decided I like her very much. Perhaps it was fate that I was supposed to get her because I went to the shop intending to buy a different one I had picked out that morning, but Molly was sitting there instead and I liked her better.

Anyways, after a couple shaky rides to and from school on Friday and Saturday, I felt like my bicycling form had come back to me enough to attempt a longer trip and see what I could see on Monday.

First stop was Kojoshi Temple which is essentially across the street from my school. I actually visit there a couple times a week, but this time I actually brought my camera. The area is actually a fairly large complex with a pagoda and main temple at the center, but with several paths leading through naturally wooded areas to smaller, more secluded shrines. One of the cooler features is a waterfall/fountain feature located near the main temple. Apologies that is doesn’t show up very well in the picture, but it is very cool.

Next it was time to explore new areas. I had read that there were several things to see just to the north along the Higashiyama subway line, so I headed that direction. Along the way I passed the three major universities that the area is known for. Chukyo (which is across from my school), Nanzan and Nagoya University. They all seem very nice and I’ve heard from my students, all are fairly difficult to get accepted to. A main road connects all three and the Meijo subway line runs underneath. As with any “college” area in the US, the street is dotted with numerous small cafes, restaurants and bars. Maybe sometime I’ll be able to find a good one, but I’ve been told this is one of the most expensive areas of the city, so maybe I’ll have to stick to McDonalds.

About half way between Yagoto and my destination of Motoyama station, I began to see signs for Higashiyama Koen (park). The area is a popular destination for Nagoyans during the weekends as it has a large park, a zoo and botanical gardens. I turned off to follow the signs, however soon I was on a small side street in a residential area with little idea where exactly I was. Just as I was preparing to turn around and go back I saw some red Japanese gates and a wooden sign the likes I had seem outside other temples and shrines around town. I walked under the gates (I actually had to duck a little bit as they were very low) and up a small hill to find myself at a small shrine set amongst carefully manicured plants and flower trees. I think the coolest feature of Japan has to be the ability to find such temples and shrines scattered about in the strangest places. While some are grander than others, all really make me feel more connected to the real core of Japan and at least for a moment escape a daily life which can feel a lot like one in the US sometimes. Anyways, the little detour proved to be fortuitous not only for finding the small shrine, but also because from the top of the hill I could see the park and zoo close by.

Now I figured that the zoo would be popular on a beautiful Sunday, but I didn’t realize how popular until I saw the masses of people all around the area, but I was there and didn’t have anything really better to do, so I bought a 500yen ticket that gave me access to the zoo and botanical gardens and went inside. The zoo itself features the basic array of animals and is cool, but a little sad as most zoos tend to be for me. On one hand it’s a lot of fun to see the animals, but the fact that they’re behind bars always sends a little tinge of regret down my spine. Anyways, if you’re a zoo person it’s a decent place, but even if you’re not, have no fear as the site also features a botanical garden which in itself is more than worth the admission. After you pass the park’s paddleboat lake (which I totally want to try sometime, who wants to come?) the concrete and steel of the zoo is replaced by more natural scenery. The gardens are divided into numerous sections and feature a large greenhouse and performance area at the center. While it all made for a very nice walk about, I found the greenhouse the most interesting. Inside was everything from tropical flowers to cactus. Apologies if my pictures from there seem a little Georgia O’Keefe-esq., but it’s better than no pictures at all right? Anyways gardens were very nice, but it was time to move on.

I followed the main road out of the zoo and after a quick check of the GPS, set off to the surprisingly nearby Motoyama station. My goal was the Toganji temple, a place I had read about online (read might too strong of word, I found one small blurb about it stating it was home to Nagoya’s “Big Buddha” which made me curious). After going around in circles for a bit, I finally uncovered the shrine’s secluded entrance. Like most of the temple areas I had seen, the strongest indicator that I was near was that the concrete jungle of modern Nagoya was replaced by trees and nature. The temple buildings themselves were small, but very well cared for and also featured a more Indian influenced architecture than the shrines I had seen before. The true draw of the temple, though, is the aforementioned “Big Buddha”. As you can see in the photos, the “Big Buddha” is a seated copper statue and is at least 40′ high. It is strange because there is little indication of it’s existence as you enter the temple, you just walk down a little path and it suddenly appears from behind the trees. With the city noise lost in the surrounding nature and the air tinted with the smell of burning incense, a real sense of peace and calm pervades, making not only the statue but the whole scene more impressiveness and inspiring. After taking my pictures, I sat for a bit and watched the few other patrons give prayers and copying their steps, I offered a little prayer myself before departing.

After this high point of the day, the rest of the afternoon was spent pedaling and exploring, until I finally wound up at home some six hours after I had left with burning legs, a dead camera battery and a distinct sense of accomplishment. I can’t say that everyday since I’ve arrived I’ve really felt like I was in Japan, but I certainly knew it once I came home and there is little more I could ask for from a day than that. I suppose that will close out the post as I’ve babbled on enough for now and I should probably save some of the superlatives for my trip to Kyoto next weekend. Oh, by the way I’m going to Kyoto next weekend, so look out for some more blogging and photos then.

Matane,

-Cory

ps-apologies I don’t have many pictures up yet, but I’ll get them as soon as I can stea…..borrow a stronger internet connection somewhere. Till then.

Brief Notes: A New Bike, A Great Day, Lots of Pictures

Howdy, just a quick post to let you all know a couple of things.

1. I bought a bike on Friday like I said I would.

2. I rode it for about 7 hours today. Saw 4 temples, 3 universities, a zoo, a botanical gardens and a giant Buddha.

3. I took a lot of pictures (99 to be exact), which will most likely take me a while to sort out and upload.

4. I am very tired, in fact tired enough that this is all I will write for now.

Full post plus the best pictures to come tomorrow. Promise.

Matane,

-Cory

fine I’ll show you the giant buddha, but that is it.

Ode to a Lost Friend and other random thoughts

They say you can never truly appreciate something until it is gone and these days I’m realizing just how true that can be. Though it’s only be about 3 1/2 weeks without you, it’s felt like a lifetime and I am counting the days until I have you by my side again. I am beginning to wonder how I ever survived before you became mine. Oh my dearest cellular telephone, can I really make it one more week without you…

Alright, perhaps that was unnecessarily dramatic, but none the less it is essentially how I feel. I would never be thought of as a cellphone addict (my monthly minute usage could attest to that), but still I am amazed by how utterly dependent I am on having one. Ever since I got to Japan and have gone without I’ve had little to no idea as to the best way to contact or set plans with people. Also besides the abilities that a cellphone provides, I flat out miss the feeling of having a cellphone. I cannot leave my apartment without pausing for a second at the door with the distinct impression that I’m missing something and you know how amputees talk about phantom limb syndrome? Well a couple times a day I swear I can feel my old phone ringing on silent mode. I suppose what it comes down to is please don’t take your cellphone for granted. Maybe buy it a case, or even just a little hug so it knows you care.

Now on to an actual post. I said above that I have been here 3 1/2 weeks (four weeks on Saturday) and that just flat out doesn’t seem right. I feel like I can recall every moment since I landed in Japan and I have no idea how they can add up to nearly a month. I guess the real problem is that I haven’t accomplished 1/100th of what I wanted to do here and 1/12th of my guaranteed time is already gone. I know there must be a way to slow things down a little, stop and smell the cherry blossoms (although they are already gone), but I’m just at a loss as to how to do it. Maybe I should make a list or something and promise myself to check off one thing a day, hell even one thing a week would be better than my current pace.

Tomorrow I’ll buy a bicycle, that should help.

Stayed tuned for more interesting news than has been blogged before, or at least pictures of a shiny new bike.

Matane,

-Cory

(by the by, I added some pictures of my apartment to photobucket, they’re under the “random” album)

One week down….

So I was thinking about it and decided that a lack of consistent internet probably wasn’t all that great of an excuse for not blogging, after all as long as my brain is still working I can just write what I think and post it when I get the chance, so here goes.

My first full week as a real teacher has just ended and I’m still alive, sane and willing to go back on Tuesday, so I suppose I couldn’t ask for more. All in all it was a good week and I think I did a pretty good job. To my knowledge I didn’t completely screw anything up, but as was pointed out to me by the departing teacher I probably won’t know that I screwed up until my review evaluation in three months, but all that really matters is that after one week I enjoy my job and feel like I can go it well for as long as necessary.

Outside of work it was an interesting, if uneventful, week. I know I’ve learned and experienced a lot but I find myself at a loss for the moment to tell you what those things are. I did visit a very nice temple near my work this week, but it was a spur of the moment thing so I did not have my camera, therefor I’ll be sure to go back and take some pictures. One of it’s best features is that it covers a very large area that has been left mostly undeveloped though there are nice trails to walk through natural grass and trees which can be somewhat hard to find in the usually closely manicured Japanese landscape. I was also impressed that this temple featured oracle slips (sort of like a fancy fortune cookie that the temples sell to visitors) that were actually in English. I was happy because I got a very good fortune, but also impressed that the English had only one glaring error (it told me to “look into the furniture” but like most Japanese apartments I have very little furniture to look into, so I think I will try to look into the future instead).

Speaking of my apartment, I don’t think I’ve really told you about it yet. Well first and foremost, it’s small, but it works and I think I’ll be comfortable here. I’ll put up pictures for a better perspective, but essentially as you enter through the door you’re in an about 4′x6′ hallway. To your left is half my kitchen (featuring a sink, single range, storage and a small fridge I’ll never use) and to your right is my bathroom. Not too much to say about the bathroom except it’s just large enough to be comfortably usable. For whatever reason there is then a door dividing this entry area from my main room which is about 8′x10′. Here is the main living space of the unit with a little desk, a tv and the other half of my kitchen (main fridge, toaster oven, rice maker, microwave and shelves for food). There is a decent sized closet which I was surprised about and also a chest of drawers which is just big enough for the clothes I brought. There’s not a whole lot of space to add anything, but I’m not missing anything either, so it works. As for sleeping, I’ve turned the loft into my bedroom. Not a whole lot to say about it outside of noting that while it’s pretty uncomfortable for the first night, you get used to sleeping on a futon (about 1” pad with a pillow and comforter) fairly quickly.

That’s about all I can think of to say at the moment, so hope the post wasn’t too boring for you. I will try to do something exciting this weekend to talk about, but also Golden Week (big vacation week in Japan) is coming soon and I plan on traveling at least a couple of places, so I’m sure I’ll have more to blog about then. So thanks for reading and hope everything is alright on your side of the ocean, wherever that may be.

Matane.

Sakura Pics

Hey everyone, just a quick update to let you know I went on Hanami (cherry blossom viewing picnic) yesterday and saw the Sakura (cherry blossoms) in full bloom. Pics are up on photobucket, just click the Sakura album. Here’s a little taste.

ps. I don’t officially have internet in my new apartment yet, so posts might be a little hard to come by. It’s a good excuse!

End of an Era (very short era)

Ohayo, konnichiwa and konbanwa to you all (greeting dependent upon your timezone). So the last few days have been interesting as training IS OVER and I spent today and Thursday at my actual school. Very exciting stuff, but probably slightly less than the milestone to be reached tomorrow, that being I will move into my yet unseen, itty-bitty Japanese apartment. I’m feeling a little strange about this fact as I’ve been looking forward to it ever since I arrived, but now I suddenly find myself with at best mixed feelings about the move.

I spent the subway ride back to the hotel from school thinking about this turn of emotion and I determined that part of me had already declared this  room with a tiny bathroom, four tv channels and unreliable internet home. Maybe beyond the room itself is that I also have spent the last two weeks adapting to this area and now that I finally know a few places to eat, shop and catch a train I’m being uprooted from my mildly comfortable zone and put somewhere new. Most importantly though, I’m losing the certain knowledge that there is other fresh gaijin next door and one floor down and even though no problems came up, they would have been the first place I’d go as it’s only a few feet away. I suppose if I had really thought about it before, these difficulties could have been forseen, but still it wouldn’t change the fact that all I can do is accept it and keep moving forward. So with that, goodbye 6′x’10 space that I first called my own in Japan, I doubt we’ll ever meet again.

Still reading? Good, because as I said it was only part of me that felt that way and now that it’s spoken it’s piece, that part is dead and gone. Allow the rest of me to continue with why I am amazingly excited about tomorrow and the future from this point forward.

What it really comes down to is that no matter how comfortable I’ve become with the room itself or the area in general, a hotel room is always going to be a temporary prospect and therefor it is very difficult (if not impossible) to truly feel at home within one. For this reason even though I been here two weeks, it feels odd and wrong to say that I’ve been living in Japan for two weeks because this is not really my life. When I committed to coming to Japan for at least a year it was because I wanted to feel a sense of permanence somewhere new and make changes to my life that wouldn’t be temporary and stepping into my apartment for the first time should symbolically act as the first steps into that new life. I’m getting a bit ahead of myself though, as the real first step is packing up my hotel room, which I should definitely be doing right now. Please forgive the ups, downs and generally melodramatic feel of this blog, perhaps I felt the past few entries have been a bit dry and needed a little spicing up. I’ll have pictures up some point soon of the apartment and such soon. Speaking of pictures, for those of you unaware there are a good bit more of them than what are inserted into the blog here, just click the “Photographic look at….” link to the right of the screen to get to my photobucket albums and then click “Japan.” Any issues, just let me know. Keep in touch.

-Matane

Training Week

I swear I’ll be giving my best efforts in becoming a more frequent blog poster as time goes on, after all there’s only so many times I can use the “too busy” excuse. I’m always going to be busy, right?

Anyways, on to the actual post things have been in indeed busy but very exciting. To begin on Saturday night, the school I will be working at hosted a welcome party for me (slash goodbye party for the teacher I will be replacing, actually mostly a goodbye party) It was very exciting though to meet not only some of the other staff, but some students as well! All of them I managed to speak with were very friendly, inquisitive and all around great people. This leaves me with a really good feeling heading into my first days at the school (beginning Thursday as it were) and I’m sure it’s a place where I can fit in well. A little more on the party can be found in the “interesting Japan” section before. Essentially more crazy stuff I ate.

Sunday was a day off (finally!) and I took the opportunity to relax a good bit. I did take a moment to explore a very nice area of Nagoya called Sakae with some of the other trainees and just on a cultural note, it seems that even though it’s been around for over a decade now, Japan is still crazy about Pokemon. I say this because it seems that there was some sort of new release at the Pokemon Store in Sakae (yes, they have entire stores devoted entirely to just pokemon) and at least 500 people were in this winding line all around the underground mall. Not just kids, but full grown men in suits playing pokemon against one another while waiting. It was quite insane. (I sat and watched these fellows for a good bit while enjoying a green tea latte from Starbucks, quite delicious).

You will also notice I have finally uploaded some new pictures on photobucket! Please take a look and enjoy. If you have any questions about them, be sure to ask. Also now that the pictures are up, I suppose I should relate an interesting story about the Nagoya Castle visit, interesting but a week late.

On our first Sunday after arriving, some of the other trainees and I decided we would take a trip to Nagoya Castle which is essentially the #1 landmark in the city. We were about a block away from the hotel when we stopped to make sure we where heading the right direction. At this point an old man on a bicycle stopped and asked in decent english “do you need help?” As it turned out this was the only English he really had down pat, but once it was figured out we were headed to the castle, he motioned for us to follow him. While we were expecting him to just point us in the right direction, he took us all the way to the castle area. He stopped in a shrine with us, taught us how to properly offer and pray, took us inside the castle grounds and did his best to tell us history through his broken english and simplified Japanese. After a few hours (yes hours) the alarm on his watch went off and he explained that it was time for him to leave for home. He then smiled, realizing that we had not even exchanged names yet (he was Kanda). Now I realize that I can’t expect this from many Japanese and that quite a few don’t even like foreigners, but just the fact that even one man would be so accommodating and friendly to a group of Gaijin without asking for anything in return really said a lot to me. Hopefully I can have more experiences like this one in the future.

Now please enjoy this picture of me wearing a Noh mask (traditional Japanese theater)

Humorous Japan Experience #2:

Now during my brief time in Japan I have eaten pig intestines, octopus, squid and at least a half dozen types of raw fish but I doubt that much will top what I had at my welcome party…..

I know that it’s hard to see, but that little tadpole like thing is a small clear fish whose name I cannot remember. Oh and did I mention that it’s alive? Yep, an entire bowl of them were swimming around in front of me. So summoning up my courage I did as the Japanese do and dunked this squirming thing into a small bowl of soy sauce (they apparently don’t like this as it went absolutely insane) and took it between my chopsticks as it trashed about. I dropped the thing into my mouth, which you think would end the story, but no it JUMPED out of my mouth not once, but twice! Finally I got my lips closed around it, but I was informed by my hosts that I had to keep it inside my mouth until the squirming stopped and had to show the table my tongue to prove it was still there. I indeed did this and if I can track down the pictures I will be sure to show you as proof I went through with this. After this, I amazingly still had an appetite and enjoyed some excellent sashami and nabe. Both of which I recommend much more highly than the living thing, but I’ll probably still make you do it if you come to Japan as well. Bon appetite!