A little over 3 months into my life in Japan, sounds like a good time as any to update you on my inaka life! WARNING… this is a long one:
September ended with a 2 for 1 deal, culturally speaking. My town and a junior high school in New Zealand have been partnering in an exchange program for over 20 years. Good news for me, since I was the English attaché for the duration of their stay! I discovered New Zealand culture AND Japanese culture in one breath. We started off with a trip to a local aquarium that had very beautiful fish BUT the show stealer that day was the majestic, black male deer that appeared out of nowhere on the road: we did a hard brake, it stared at us, we stared at it… then it jumped back into the forest! That was some Princess Mononoke level experience right there.
Following that was a whirlwind of local dancing (yosakoi), flower arrangement (ikebana), summer kimonos (yukata), temple visits, tea ceremony (sado), and the gutting of an unsuspecting bonito (katsuo). If you aren’t already following me on facebook or insta, then let me enlighten you about bonito. It is THE local fish, star of every tourist meal, an unmissable delicacy. A famous restaurant here kindly organised an activity where the students prepared the fish themselves, A-Z.
Speaking of bonito, October 14th there was an entire festival dedicated to this delicious fish. That’s right, you heard me, a fish festival. Basically, it’s a bunch of tents with a bunch of food and IT IS AWESOME. Don’t take my word for it, watch the video I made instead! Of course I had seared bonito (katsuo tataki) and I washed it all down with yuzu shaved ice (kakigori). Yuzu looks somewhat like a lemon, either yellow or green and is SUPER aromatic. Forget lemons, once you’ve had yuzu, you don’t go back!
Dear readers, you may or may not have had the chance to taste Yuzu before, so you may or may not understand my sorrow when *cue dramatic music* the “#%&$’”%& damn typhoon cancelled a Yuzu matsuri I was planning on attending.
Most of October was overwhelmed by typhoons which means rain, rain, rain. But hey, I didn’t let that dampen my spirit! In fact, before the rain hit we had the JET surf camp and yes, I went surfing for the first time in my life EVER! Omg, omg omg omg omg it was so amazing. I managed to stand on the board TWICE in 2h #goals. I can’t wait to go again!
Kochi city held a local products festival mid-October, at a shrine that had my name written all over it. Deer hot-dogs? Rose petal soda? Yes please! That very night was also the last performance of traditional dance (kagura) held at Kochi castle and I had been obsessing about seeing it. The entrance to the castle was lit with beautiful light installations and we were given paper lanterns to carry up the stairs. Check out the video I put up on my YouTube channel!
Multiple rainy weekends means keeping yourself busy. I spent one very wet and windy Saturday at Cap Ashizuri, touring Kongōfuku-ji Temple (one of the largest temples on the 88 Temple Pilgrimage) and walking along the high cliffs that jut out into the Pacific.
I’ve also been playing the local tourist which in my book means FINALLY tasting the local katsuo tataki burger! I could talk about it buuuuuuuut I have a great video up on my YouTube channel that gives you a much better idea of how delicious it was. And if the burger isn’t a big enough draw for you, well I’ll have you know there’s also the skeleton of a whale in that video!
I’ve passed the 3 month mark and am loving every minute of it! Well… not so much the minutes spent on the surprise malfunctions of my car (looking at you alternator) but hey, no point sweating the small stuff.
Fall is kicking off here which means season themed decorations everywhere, including decorations made from Japanese pampas grass (susuki), eating rice dumplings (Tsukimi dango), roasting sweet potatoes and finding chestnut products everywhere; my favorites are the homage to the mythology of a rabbit living on the moon.
mainichi JET 
I’d love to visit Japan! How are you finding it? Looks an awesome time
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Hey Zac! You should 100% visit, it would make a great addition to your wonderful travel blog. This is my 5th time here, but 1st time living. I live on the island of Shikoku and I love (almost) every minute of it. As a tourist it’s great because people are very polite and helpful. And the food is DELISH!
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Thank you for the kind words! Sounds amazing, I’d love to visit sometime 😀
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