4 Weeks in Gifu

Crikey, time for a round up on what’s been going on around Gifu-Shi. I think I’ve got the hang of this town. I’ve been here for 4 weeks, I bought a bike to terrorize the pavements, I’m learning Japanese (though I still can’t write my name), and I’m in the swing of work, working on my patient plaster smile for the lower level students. I spare a though for my own Jap tutors.

So straight into it: There have been 1 or 2 notorious Karaoke incidents in downtown Gifu. Private booths, all you can drink (a lot), dancing on tables, and possibly singing some Kylie? No one can confirm or deny that. Props to Kelly for her superb effort capably ordering pizza on the phone the next day. Now, because this whole situ is likely to reoccur again (and again) I’ll take any Karaoke requests that you might have. I’ll do an intro if you like (one of those ‘this goes out to my homeboy ‘…Stan’). The song will be butchered but it might be a nice connector between absent friends. So, requests people?
We celebrated Mother Natures delicate beauty with a Hanami (Cherry Blossom) Party in Gifu Koen last week. ‘The Friendship Garden’ (friendship between Japan and China) was a surreal night stage of cherry blossom trees around a pond. It was pretty cool for so many of the Gaijin (foreign) tutors to be in the one place, listening to music, hanging out, speaking english. And as beer drops from vending machines you never have to worry about when the bottle shop’s going to close. A final word on the cherry blossoms: They are loverly, prittee and beautifil, but now sadly they’re gone. Two days after our party wind and rain decimated our beloved cherry blossom trees leaving little pink-white petals littered in every street like confetti after a wedding. Till next year I guess…

I visited Yoro yesterday, which doesn’t make a mention in the Lonely Planet, though it should for its bizarre park, ‘The Garden of Reversible Destiny’. Yes, I did visit just for the name. Set in the backdrop of Yoro Mountain, ‘The Garden’ is a micro-world of play and discovery. It’s all a bit Alice in Wonderland with random household items (kitchen ovens, sofas, baths…) mixed up with mazes, glass floors, pathways that confused my balance, and a wonderfully disorientating use of scale. In all this chaos the natural garden elements still remain quite Japanese. The pretty brochure describes it as an ‘experience park’ conceived on the theme of experiencing the unexpected. I love it because it’s the opposite of the order we traditionally expect of the Japanese. Check out more about the garden and its creators Arakawa and Gins here. I was kept company on my reversible walk-around by an interesting character with a white helmet who clearly took his job as security quite seriously and insisted on joking with me in Japanese. Really he was keeping an eye out to make sure I left by 5:00 on the dot. Ah, the order returns.

Otherwise, work is going well; I’ve had two observations which I’ve come through just fine. Golden Week (the biggest Japanese week off) is approaching which would be exiting if we had the time off like the rest of Japan (or paid in lieu). NOVA staff don’t get any public holidays which I’m feeling a little mis-informed about.

But in a happy final paragraph can I say happy Easter to you all too. The bunny didn’t make it to me this year (mum, dad, you did forward him my change of address?) but thanks Susan for sending that chocolate bunny pic that comes out every year.

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 23rd, 2006 at 4:04 pm and is filed under Japan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.