urasa dam - 30 april 2006

We went on a road trip to Urasa one fine morning end of last month. The Malaysian students from Niigata University drove down southeast to meet their counterparts from the International University of Japan. Syakir & co. led the way with his black Altezza, while Saiful drove the rest of us in Syakir’s 2nd car.



It took us about 2 hours before we could see the snow-capped mountains that this “snow country” was famous for. That meant Urasa was just around the corner, I was told. We paid Y2550 at the toll plaza. For that amount, we got a toothy grin from the tollkeeper, who was most sporting when he found out we wanted to take his picture.



We stopped by to pick up Aidil & Marina, the only Malaysian IUJ couple who stayed off campus. Their apartment was very near the ski slopes. We also saw a dented car which was apparently crushed by the heavy layer of snow the previous winter. I shudder to imagine what would happen should an avalanche hit them. But that’s just my imagination.



We arrived at Urasa dam to see beautiful koi streamers (koi nobori) hanging across the water. The decoration for the recent Children’s Day (kodomo no hi) was still up, giving the otherwise serene area a festive look.



I bet this will be one of the places I’m gonna visit often when I’m studying in Urasa. Without the streamers, this will make a good place for quiet contemplation. That is, if I get to have any free time to venture out of my room in the first place. I hear the E-biz students have the most packed schedule because the course is condensed into 1 year.



It’s not an exaggeration when we say that whenever there are Malaysians, there will be food. Each of us prepared something for the little picnic by the dam. We must’ve scared off the couple next to us with our gregariousness and excited chatter.



After the yummy lunch, we took a stroll around the area. The koi fishes here must be really well-breed. They’re bigger than the ones I’ve seen back home. But then again, Niigata is also well known for their prize-winning koi’s. One of them was as sporting as the tollkeeper. It blew a kiss back at me seeing that I was aiming for the cutest fish around.



Can you imagine if there is still snow in Urasa at this time of the year, how much snow there would be during winter? The seniors told us snow can go up to as high as 5m. I can already imagine myself looking like a walking Michelin mascot, all covered with layers and layers of winter clothing and looking all snuggly and warm.



I’ve heard of overseas students eating ice-cream during winter. I think it’s a universal thing, coz they do it here in Japan as well. At first I thought they must be nuts, but after trying it out for myself, maybe not. Perhaps it’s becoz the ice-cream don’t melt as fast. We had some gelato-like ice-cream at this little dessert shop called Yummy. That little treat capped off the Urasa road trip quite nicely.

warming up to the onsen

My very first experience at the onsen was awkward to say the least. The only time I bared my body to a stranger when I went for my massage about 2 years back. That wasn't so bad coz there's only the masseuse and you.

The Japanese public bath is usually outdoors and use naturally heated hot water extracted from a natural volcanic spring. The one I went to last night, even though it was a man-made one, was really tastefully done. Imagine zen Japanese aesthetics, dim warm lights and landscaping in the garden as you walk in. You start to get relaxed and look forward to the experience.

walking down the corridor, you see massage chairs on your left and the massage parlour on your right

I went with a Malaysian senior who taught me how to get myself accustomed to the rituals of the public bath. We had to first undress and put our clothes in the locker. Then head to the public bathroom, like those you've probably seen in books, and wash ourselves clean. It's considered rude to just dip your body in the baths without bathing first.

We sat on short stools facing a miror each. They have a shower head and tap with a temperature gauge. We set it to about 35degC to get our bodies acclimatized to the hot water after that. There are even bottles of 'rinse shampoo' and 'body shampoo' for you to use. But you can always buy these, and other toiletries at the vending machines outside. In fact, you can get almost anything in vending machines, but that will be another story.

you can buy toiletries and anything you need for the ultimate onsen experience just before you enter the baths

After getting ourselves clean, we headed to the outdoor area where they have small pools in various themes. We tried the well-like pool first. It felt like the hot water just washes away the stress and tension in the body. I could've stayed there longer if not for the heat.

We also tried the hot stones. It's like lying down on your back on the hot pavement with a small layer of water running underneath, while exposing your body to the open air. At first I thought the stones were going to burn off the fats off my butt, but later as I got more comfortable with the heat, I began to feel sleepy. Another friend commented that it's great just lying down there during winter when the snow falls on your body. Maybe I'll get to try that in winter in Urasa!

there's even a dining area should you get hungry after the pampering session

We ended with the jacuzzi back inside. Having the jet of water pushing against the body was like having an indirect massage. At the end of it, I almost melted away in the onsen. It was just a wonderful experience. Too bad I can't bring it back to Malaysia.

It's beginning to get a little warmer as summer approaches. I'd better go for more onsens as much as I can before then.

feeling all soft and relaxed, didn't feel like cyling back uphill to my apartment!

hepi mama day!

Wishing all the mothers out there a Happy Mother's Day! Albeit a little late, this wish comes all the way from Japan with much love.



I wanted to buy something nice from Japan for my mum, but I still wasn't sure of my way around, and last week was about only the 2nd time I had been to Niigata city. So I decided to surprise her by calling her early Sunday morning, just before she left for church.



There I was, walking in my peejays (or what must've looked like it, coz some Nihon-jins were looking at me one kind) to the campus. That was the only place I knew that had a public phone with access to make international calls.



Couldn't get mama at first, so I called papa and he said he was already in church. Asked me to try calling home instead. But I got my brother instead, who was half-dazed when I got him on the phone.



Finally reached my mama, who was most delighted to hear from me at such an hour. Hearing a familiar voice on the other end of the line on a foreign land is like a soothing balm to the weary soul. (Not that I was weary per se, heh)

yahiko shrine - 30 april 2006

Mt Yahiko may only be slightly more than 600m above sea level, it nonetheless is an imposing presence on the coastline of the Sea of Japan. It overlooks the vast Echigo Plain inland and provides an expansive view of the rice paddies of Niigata, a region well known for its rice production.



The students from the Nihongo-0 class organised a trip to Yahiko last month. By then we had roughly gotten a hang of the train system and how to recognise basic kanji characters. We took the JR line from NiigataDaigakuMae, switched at Yoshida and continued on to Yahiko Eki. The interesting part was that the front entrance of the Yahiko Eki is built in the likeness of the Yahiko Shrine.



Yahiko Shrine, the primary shrine of the Echigo Country (old name for the Niigata area), is nestled amidst forests of cedar and zelkova trees at the eastern foot of Mt Yahiko. The shrine grounds are surrounded by a dense grove of old trees, such as Japanese cypresses, creating an awe-inspiring atmosphere.



Visitors to Yahiko Shrine buy wooden tablets on which to write their prayers and wishes and have then hung here. I'm not sure what happens to the tablets, perhaps the priests collect them at the end of the day and chant some prayers for the people. Wish there was a tour guide who could explain the ceremonies that took place in the shrine.



There's actually lots that can be done up on Mt Yahiko - hike up the hill, enjoy the natural onsen, ride on the ropeway to get to the top where Sanjo Park awaits you, have picnics near the playground or cycle on the trails around the hill. Since some of us had to rush back for the Coffee Hour*, we left after lunch.



For more related stories...



*Coffee Hour - Tea time gathering held every 10th, 20th and 30th of each month at the International Student House for international students to mingle with Japanese, where they can make new friends and improve their Japanese language.


You can tell that this post sounds quite blah. Updating the blog takes up so much of my time! Writing something that has already happened in the past takes away the oomph la.

church seeking

Think I might have found a church that I would like to attend regularly. After the case of "Lost in Translation" at the JW church the previous Sunday, I became quite cautious whenever I meet Christians here.

I really don't want to be skeptical, but with my limited Japanese, it's hard to tell one from another. For the first 4 weeks, I have been careful to avoid them whenever they come knocking on my door. This family of 3 (the elderly lady, her daughter and son-in-law) have been visiting me and were being characteristically persistent.

To cut the long story short, all my efforts went down the drain when I actually ended up in their church because I misunderstood a grrl from the uni who happen to be their church member. If you would like to know the full version of what happened, please email and an unedited version will be delivered right to your doorstep. ;p

Anyways, I finally managed to contact an AG church in Niigata after much dead ends. During my 1st try, the guy on the other line couldn't really understand English and what I wanted. When I called again the week after, they gave me the Pastor's number but no one picked up the phone. Then I tried the church again just to verify, but this time there was no response. Even the emails I sent went unreplied.

That was why when I heard that the grrl above was a Christian, I got quite excited and somehow got myself invited to her church. I never had a personal encounter with the JW back in Malaysia, and on hindsight realised that I should've been less naive.

So anyways, after that JW incident, I decided to give it one more try. It was about 630pm and I had just woken up from my nap. I didn't expect anyone to still be in the office, but lo and behold, the guy not only understood English, but managed to get someone to contact me back.

Pastor Tsuchiya preaching at the Japanese service

This Sri Lankan lady returned my call within 1 hour and arranged for us to meet before going to the church. So it was a rainy day when I met her yesterday morning and she drove us to the Grace Chapel. The morning service was in Japanese but I could immediately feel the warmth of the atmosphere.

We had coffee and cakes at the Welcome Lounge after the service

They have a proper building with 3 floors, stage at the front, pews and a band for worship! It looks really modern and their 1st service had no less than 100 people in the congregation. It was all I could do to stop my tears from flowing when they started singing. It felt like home. I recognised some of the songs, and the music just flowed beautifully.

It was as if my thirst was finally quenched. I'm not looking for a superduper church with fancy facilities, just a place where the people are genuinely seeking God and simply enjoying His presence.

Some church members having lunch before the 2nd service

After the service, I managed to meet the American pastor whom I was trying to contact earlier. He had just returned from Tokyo with his family, and was pleased to hear my story. I also took the opportunity to tell him that I would like to serve in the music ministry. I realise I wouldn't have done that on normal circumstances, but you should've seen their expression because they were actually looking for a pianist to serve in the English service.

Even though I think I will settle down in this church, it's too early to say what I will do here. There are lots to be done, no doubt, but at the moment, I'm just glad I found one where the people are warm and receptive, where opportunities abound. And oh, they're having a little bible study group in the campus tomorrow evening. I'm gonna check it out and see how things go.

God is slowly but surely answering my prayers.

Joining new friends from the English service for a sushi dinner

salvation army church - 23 april 2006

The first church I visited in Japan was the Salvation Army church near Furumachi, Niigata City. I was introduced to this church by Philipp, the wacky Swiss guy who's doing Physics in Niigata University. He couldn't make it that week, so Konan brought us there.

We were met by the Nakagawa's at one of the bus stations at Furumachi. If I'm not mistaken, Mrs Nakagawa used to work for Doulos, and has been to Malaysia on one of their stops before. Her husband does mimes for events, and they have a lovely one year old daughter, Ki-Chan.

Jap babies look like peaches, don't they?

The service was entirely in Japanese, but Mrs Nakagawa was kind enough to translate for us. As this was my first time attending church in Japan, I felt like I found a place I could seek refuge in. Like a place to belong. You can always sense it when you meet like-minded Christians.

This is not Pastor Sato, but the guy playing the piano was Nakagawa-san, father of the peachy baby

Though Pastor Sato's message was simple, it felt like the best I've ever heard. Probably because I was hungry for His Word. I've already missed Easter service this year, and I definitely missed going to church.

The international students probably made up 1/3 of the congregation that Sunday

To see her express her desires to share the Gospel with the people of Niigata reminded me that it is still possible. Even though this church may be small, with an average congretation size of not more than 10, it is encouraging to see that they have the zeal for His work.

The lady on the most right is 94 years old, and still faithfully comes to church! Amazing what Jap food and God's grace can do

We had a little lunch after the service. Apparently, the ladies of the church had prepared them beforehand so we just needed to heat up the soup. I went backstage to the kitchen to help them so that I could get to know them better.

As they say, homemade food is always the best. That was probably the best lunch I've ever had since stepping foot here. Made with much TLC - tender loving care. Unfortunately I had to be polite and had to stop myself from asking for seconds, heh.

Nothing beats home cooked food

When they found out I could play the piano, I was asked to play a piece from their hymn book. I'm not very good at sight reading, so I tried to play a song from what I remember back home. For a moment there, I was blank, thinking what song I should play. It struck me that I might have forgotten how to even play the piano.

I quietly asked God for some inspiration. And slowly but surely, one of my favourite songs came alive on the piano. I can't remember the title, but it goes something like this :

Anointing, fall on me
Anointing, fall on me
By the power of the Holy Ghost, fall on me
Anointing, fall on me

If only I could go on playing. It felt like I haven't touched a piano for years, and I realised I missed serving in the music ministry.

hajimete okane

We finally got our first “salary” last Friday. The scholarship money comes in a little late the first month because of the fiscal year and admin involved to cater for the new batch of students. I have so far only shopped for necessities because I only brought enough money from Malaysia to last me for a month.

Alden, Konan, Philipp (our new Swiss friend) and I went for dinner at the ramen shop nearest to our apartment. I sometimes don’t know whether to call our lodging a room, apartment or house. It’s so small it looks more like a room, but it comes with attached kitchen and bathroom it looks more like an mini apartment.

So anyways, we had late dinner and decided to treat ourselves to some Japanese alcohol. Nothing fancy, just a bottle of cheap-tasting wine which the four of us shared. Maklumlah, we have been spending so much the first month, and I have yet to pay for April & May’s room rental.



The next day, Farhana and I went shopping. Our initial plans to go down Tokyo during the Golden Week (a stretch of holidays starting from the Memorial Day to Japan’s Children’s Day) next week were dashed when we found out that bus tickets were sold out. Oh well, might as well save the money. The total estimated expenditure of Y30,000 on a 3 day trip such as this is really quite an exorbitant amount.

While looking around for some shoes, we found out that the Japanese have really small feet. And I thought mine were small. In Malaysia, a size 5 would be considered quite average but in Japan, the average equivalent of size 24 is categorized as Large! I suddenly feel like a giant not because of my size but because of my shoe size.



At the end of it all, we managed to treat ourselves to some nice but affordable clothes at UniQlo, and shoes from Shoe Plaza. I don’t have to keep wearing the same clothes every 2 days or look like I have a uniform for each day of the week. It must’ve looked like that coz a Malaysian senior borrowed me his wife’s jacket so that I could vary my choice of clothes!

on being domesticated

I have a feeling I’m getting domesticated by the day. Monday and Thursday afternoons are spent sweeping the floor and cleaning the bathroom coz on those days I have the least number of classes. Mondays so far has always been my laundry day. On Tuesdays, I walk to the nearby supermarket, Uoroku to shop for groceries because they have lots of items selling for only Y90.

Whenever I get junk mails through my mailbox, I scour for the latest bargains and the cheapest deals. To compare prices, I take pictures with my handphone of the items I want. Even though the particular item may be on sale in that shop, I think I can get a better price if I take time to shop around.

Promotion on branded bags such as Prada and Gucci are advertised like our Malaysian hypermarket "Best Deal of the Week" flyers

To ensure that I do not overspend and have a little to treat myself at the end of the month, I keep track of my daily expenses in a neat little Excel file. There are columns for total daily expenditure and cumulative expenditure as the days go by. I also put little notes for unusually high figures and a separate spreadsheet for luxury items.

Back home, my specialty is soup-based dishes. Here, I have learnt to cook a whole lot more. In fact, most of the dishes here are really my first time making them. Very simple dishes too, I just apply the same rule as my soup-based dishes : just throw everything inside, and with some instincts, hope they come out edible.

Our first home-cooked meal. Koshihikari rice with fried chicken from lunch and my trademark vegetable soup

Since it’s so hard to cook for one person, I always cook enough rice to last me for 2 meals. The chilly weather helps in preserving my rice in the rice cooker, heh. But by the time summer comes, I will need a refridgerator! By the way, we bought the best rice in Niigata, and some say, Japan – the Koshihikari rice.

Niigata is known to produce the best rice in Japan, and it was mentioned that even the best rice in the world comes from Japan. So if I have a sack of the best rice in Niigata, that means, I am eating the best rice in the world!

Koshihikari, the best rice in Niigata, Japan, and some say in the world too! And oh, the one next to it is some superduper long Japanese spring onion.

I’m now thinking of ways to smuggle bring back some of the Koshihikari grains to introduce to you guys back home. And to think that I use the leftover rice of the Koshihikari to make fried rice…