Mike's trip to Iwakuni, Miyajima and Extreme Wrestling

Mike arrived last week and he’s been pretty busy as he’s been going to school with me the whole week.

On Thursday and Friday he came to Yasuura Junior High School and we managed to teach my grade 1’s and 3’s. The classes went really well as all the kids where excited to have another foreigner in class. The grade 3’s lined up at the end of the class to ask him questions and some of the girls as some of the funniest things like “Do you like girls who look like hippos?.”

We also took a few walks and a rollerblade trip around my town. Kawajiri is surrounded by water and we spent one afternoon trekking or way around the coastline till we reached a little beach.

Luckily, Mike timed his arrival here during golden week so I had over a week where I didn’t have to go to work. This past Sunday we went to Iwakuni, a small town just outside of Hiroshima in Yamaguchi Prefecture. Iwakuni is famous for its 5 wooden arched bridge Kintaikyo. Being spring vacation there was also a feudal parade across the bridge.

It was neat being able to see many different outfits worn during the feudal period. One of the best parts was the food as there were a lot of stalls selling traditional Japanese snacks.

We also went to Miyajima, the island in Hiroshima with a red gate in the water. I haven’t actually been recently, so it was nice to go back and just walk along the temples and eat the different snack foods.

That night we met up with Rob and a few of his soccer friends at a foreigner bar and then went to a Izakaya for dinner. The Japanese friends are all dentists who have just passed their final exam. We had a great night drinking and ended up at one the dentist’s place and grabbed a few beers at the convenience store until we crashed out a dawn.

We managed to keep busy for much of the week hiking a local gorge in Kure and visiting the local onsen to relax afterwards. The gorge wasn't too long but it was just nice to get some fresh air and exercise.

On Thursday night I saw an advertisement for a live wrestling show in Hiroshima. So Asuka, Mike and I met up with Rob and went to the same club we went to for Halloween, Chinatown. The place is tiny, but they ended up having 4 kick ass wrestling matches. What was really cool was how we were front row for all the action. They had crazy flips, broken tables and some pretty sweet characters. Rob and I managed to go right up to the ring and it was just pretty neat to see these guys beat the crap out of each other a few feet from us.

There were also rap performances before hand, and I often say that Japanese “hardcore” – is really softcore compared to back home. I dubbed this one dude go-jyu-en, which is 50 cent in Japanese. He had all the tattoos and a fake gun in his belt buckle, it was sometimes laughable, but we still enjoyed ourselves.

The best part was seeing one of the wrestlers the next morning staying in our capsule hotel. I guess they don’t pay these wrestlers too well. But honestly, the production value was pretty darn good as they even had a little cage. All in all, a great night and one of the best I’ve had in Hiroshima.

This week, Mike and Asuka also went to elementary school with me. The kids were really excited and the classes went really smoothly. It was really neat showing a part of my life to Asuka and Mike and I think they thoroughly enjoyed being in the teaching environment. Some of the little kids are so cute and having mike and Asuka there really help make the classes even better as they were able to play the games with the kids. We had lunch with the kids at both schools and managed to snap a bunch of good class pictures.

Japanese factoid #47- In Japanese schools, your lunch is provided for you by the schools. You pay about two to three dollars per a meal and lunch is made at school. I really love my prepared lunch as it usually comes with bread or rice and a main and side dish. During festival season or special occasions you also get special treats. It’s great because you don’t have to worry about packing a lunch and it’s always really healthy for you. In fact, every calorie is counted and regulated. The proportions aren’t too bad too, as they give you just the right amount to not to be hungry or stuffed.