the holidays that a country celebrates can tell you a lot about the people that live in that country. i find it interesting to compare the different types of things that people in different countries deem worthy enough to honor and commemorate. take the US for example. about half of US federal holidays celebrate either wars or heros. in contrast, half of japans national holidays celebrate either nature or the stages of life. the differences in what each culture reveres fascinates me.

of the 11 federal holidays americans observe, i count 6 that are dedicated to various wars and heros. war-themed days include memorial day, which honors people who died in wars, independence day, which celebrates the declaration of independence during the american revolution, and veterans day, which honors soldiers who served in the military. days that commemorate heros include martin luther king day, presidents day, and columbus day.

japan, on the other hand, celebrates nature and the stages of life with 7 of their 15 national holidays:

__nature__

• vernal equinox day (春分の日): celebrates the spring equinox with a focus on admiring nature and all living things.
• greenery day (みどりの日): a day to enjoy and be thankful for natures greenery.
• marine day (海の日): honors the oceans and the blessings that they provide.
• autumnal equinox day (秋分の日): celebrates the autumn equinox while also honoring ones ancestors.

__stages of life__

• coming of age day (成人の日): congratulates everyone who turns 20 that year.
• childrens day (こどもの日): honors children and celebrates their happy personalities.
• respect-for-the-aged day (敬老の日): celebrates long life and old people.

so there you have it: half of american holidays honor wars and heros while half of japanese holidays celebrate nature and the stages of life. so what does this tell us about the difference in cultures? id like to think theres a strong relationship between what people celebrate and how they view the world. are holidays determined by a society's history or their location in the world? or is it possible that holidays help shape society into conforming to what its rulers desire? i would assume its a bit of both, really.

id rather not make too many judgments on american and japanese cultures based on something as trivial as holidays, so ill make just this one weak conjecture: based solely on holidays, it seems clear to me that america loves wars and heros while japan instead appreciates nature and the stages of life.

this is the third of three postings describing a typical weekday for me as a rural assistant language teacher. in case youre curious, here is part one and part two.

__after school__
my brain has a tendency to turn to mush after teaching up to 6 classes a day. theres something about teaching a room full of children who either dont understand, dont care, dont like me, arent awake, or who make jokes the whole time, that can be very exhausting. but thats not to say theyre all bad. on the contrary, there are plenty of genuinely smart kids who are pretty chill and try their best to learn. those kids make me smile. the hard part is trying to balance my lessons so that the bad kids stay quiet, the slow kids actually learn some english, and the smart kids arent bored out of their minds. teaching all day, coupled with the fact that i am constantly speaking, listening, and translating two different languages, really wears me out most days.

needless to say, when im allowed to leave around 4:30 or 5pm i breath a sigh of relief. after school, i either walk, catch an infrequent bus, or ride my bike back home. when i step inside my house i am instantly reminded of two things. first of all, since there is no central heating in most buildings in japan, its just as cold inside as it is outside. brrr. and secondly, the smell that greets my nose reminds me that i still dont have a toilet that flushes. ugh.

__staying warm in the winter__
there are several things i do to stay warm during the cold winter nights in japan. exercising not only warms me up but it helps keep me in shape too. these days ive been doing a lot of yoga, jump rope, and jogging to keep warm. cooking and eating hot foods like udon or ramen soup helps take the chill off too. taking long hot showers helps quite a bit as well. but the number one savior to staying warm in japan is the kotatsu (炬燵). a kotatsu is a low table with a heater underneath and a blanket over the sides to trap the heat in. imagine a small warm tent for your legs - thats a kotatsu. when im at home i spend most of my time sitting on the floor with half my body under that thing. its where i play guitar and eat my meals. its where i talk to my friends on the phone and play video games. and you can bet its where im sitting right now while i write this post.

__lonely weeknights__
i spend most weeknights alone in my room. some nights i take a train two hours each way to have dinner with some friends. every other thursday night i teach a beginners english class for very old people. some tuesdays i travel north to the next town over and study japanese with a friend. but that leaves the rest of the weeknights to spend in my house by myself. its not terrible though; my weeknights are a break from my crazy weekend adventures. since i arrived in kihoku (紀北) about six and a half months ago, ive only spent four weekends in my town. the rest are spent exploring other cities and finding exciting new people, places, and customs.

even though i have school the next day, i still dont let myself fall asleep before 2am most weeknights. ive got into the habit of wearing at least two shirts to bed so i dont wake up freezing. lately ive been setting three alarms for myself to make sure i actually wake up in time to do everything over again the next day. such is the end of another glamorous day as a jet assistant language teacher.

these kids look young enough to be junior high school students, but no one seems too worried to see them holding bows drawn with flaming arrows. we watch them shoot arrows in to the sky. they land in a nearby field, catching the dead grass on fire. we watch in awe as child after child adds their own flame to the burning field. this is exactly why i wanted to come all the way out to kushimoto, wakayama (和歌山県の串本町): to see this years fire festival (火祭り).

kids shooting flaming arrows in to a grassy field

the fire quickly spreads from one side of the field to the other. firemen are on hand for safety reasons. ironically, they actually help the fire move along to make sure the whole thing burns evenly.

a fire started by burning arrows

some friends were smart enough to bring marshmallows and sticks, and generous enough to share them with me. we follow the fire as it makes its way across the field, roasting marshmallows as we go along.

roasting marshmallows

yours truly

we quickly get cold when the fire begins to die down. its time to return to our cars to warm up and go home. another amazing festival was had. good times.

so there i was.. exploring a tuna festival (まぐろの祭り) in the wakayama prefecture (和歌山県). hanging out with friends new and old. chowing down on some fresh tuna. damn, my taste buds were in heaven. if, of course, such an imaginary place could actually exist. we were fighting frigid winds. walking from booth to booth. enjoying as many free samples our stomachs could handle at 9:30 in the AM.

when all of a sudden.. out of the corner of my eye i see a vendor selling something different. getting closer, i notice the sign says kujira (くじら) instead of maguro (まぐろ). fucking whale meat! im so in! next thing i know, ive got a piece of fresh whale sashimi (鯨さしみ) in my hand. after posing for a quick pic to remember the moment forever, that thing goes straight in to my mouth. fishy, yes. controversial, yep. slightly chewy, uh huh. delicious, oh yeah! it actually tasted a bit like tuna if my memory serves me well.

eating whale (鯨肉) for the first time