Yamato Spring 2015

YAMATO SPRING 2015
YAMATO
Spring 2015
Nagoya Vegan
Festival
Tips on visiting
Okinawa
Glass-blowing in
Nagahama
Living in the land of
Yamato
Hitachinaka Seaside Park, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki

YAMATO SPRING 2015
Editor’s Note
With the birds a-chirping, the
sakura a-blooming, and the
heat-tech a-disappearing, the
spring has finally arrived, and is
moving slowly on towards sum-
mer.
This issue features tips on visit-
ing Okinawa, an interesting DIY
trip to Nagahama to blow your
own glass, a festival for vegan
food and food knowledge, in ad-
dition to a tributary piece about
living in Yamato, the old name
for Nara.
I hope you enjoy the issue,
and see you at Arts Fest!
Lukas
Tsukimachi Falls, Daigo, Ibaraki

YAMATO SPRING 2015
CONTENTS
Have any great stories from your travels?
Take any spectacular photos during your travels
or in your town/city/village? See any good movies
recently? Have you made any amazingly
delicious foods recently that you can’t wait to
share with your fellow Nara JETs? Then you
should submit them to the YAMATO! Our next
issue will come out in the summer, so email
us at naracirs@gmail.com with “YAMATO
SUBMISSION” in the subject line.
Okinawa: Beaches,
Fish and a Lot of
Pork .................. p. 4
Nagoya Vegan
Festival ............. p. 8
Nagahama Glass
Blowing ............ p. 13
Banana Mug
Cake Recipe ..... p. 11
Rebus Puzzles .. p. 12
Finding Myself in
Yamato ............ p. 16
Night view of Osaka from Mt. Ikoma

YAMATO SPRING 2015
Okinawa: Beaches, Fish, and a
Lot of Pork
Rissa Huang
Summer is coming up in a few months and I’m sure a
lot of people are thinking of heading to the beaches. Hav-
ing gone this past spring break, I thought I’d share some
tips and pitfalls to avoid to make the best of your time in
Okinawa.
If you’re going anywhere outside of Naha City and you don’t have a car, you’re most likely
going to take a bus. Be warned, however: Okinawa definitely runs on ‘island time’--buses are
few and far between and often do not arrive on time. A lot of the buses run only once an hour,
so if you must take a bus, check the bus schedule before you go off to your destination. Buses on
weekends are especially scarce. If you can, definitely rent a car. It will make your vacation much
less stressful. If you must take public transportation, I recommend the ‘Bus Navi Okinawa (バ
スナビ沖縄)’ app for your phone. You can look up different routes, bus schedules, and the next
bus for your stop.
1) UNLIKE MOST OF HONSHU, PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION IS SUPER
INCONVENIENT, AVOID IF YOU CAN

YAMATO SPRING 2015
There are places you can go snorkeling on the main island, but spend the extra money
and take a ferry to one of the outlying islands for a day trip! There are a few islands with-
in a day trip’s distance that are known for having wonderful snorkeling: Zamami, Tokashiki,
and Akajima. The main terminal in Naha City, with two choices for ferries (60/120 minutes,
5970/4030 yen roundtrip, respectively). I recommend Kerama Ocean for snorkeling (http://
keramaocean.jp/)! He uses a glass-bottom boat and can speak basic English. I took a two hour,
two snorkeling spot tour in the morning for 7200 yen (includes 1000 yen for wetsuit rental).
Make sure to have some sort of SD card on you; at the end he’ll transfer pictures he takes on his
underwater camera to your SD card for free! I saw a sea turtle within the first 10 minutes: it was
magical *______*
Some things to note:
1. This goes for any snorkeling company, but be sure to call and reserve ahead of time. They
can be fully booked in the busy season!
2. (This may also apply to other companies)If taking his morning 2-hour course, be sure to
bring lunch; by the time you come back and shower from snorkeling most of the restaurants
are closed for lunch.
2) TAKE A FERRY TO ANOTHER ISLAND AND GO SNORKELING!

YAMATO SPRING 2015
Although Okinawa is surrounded by ocean, because of the con-
stant heat and humidity, their traditional cuisine doesn't focus on fish as
you might expect because of the difficulty in keeping the fish unspoiled.
Okinawa is known for eating a lot of pork, but especially using all parts
of the pig except the snout. There are numerous pork dishes including
the rafti ラフティー (cubes of fatty stewed pork), tebichisoba てびちそ
ば (pork feet in Okinawan soba), and mimiga ミミガー (pork ear slices
in vinegar). Understandably, there's definitely a Chinese influence to the
pork dishes. Okinawa also has goya-champuru (bitter melon and egg stir-
fry) and taco rice (a Japanese version of Tex-Mex food). However, my fa-
vorite thing was the Blue Seal ice cream shops available everywhere! There
are over 20 different flavors including western, Japanese, and Okinawa-
specialty flavors. I got a two-flavor cup almost every single day.
The Churaumi Okinawa
Aquarium is probably the most fa-
mous attraction in Okinawa; the
large tank contains three whale
sharks, many types of manta rays
and other ocean wildlife. It is about
1 and a half hours by car from Naha
City. If you don’t have a car, your
best plan is to take a tour bus pack-
age (バスツアー). There is public
transport to the aquarium, but it
takes much longer (because of frequent stops) and the roundtrip cost is about 5000 yen, not including
aquarium entrance fee. I recommend this company (http://okinawa.0152.jp/). if you want the most
time possible at the aquarium. Their B-course allows for 3.5 hours at the aquarium (lunch not includ-
ed), as well as a stop at Pineapple Park, which I enjoyed because of the free tasting, including pineapple
wine :]. It includes entrance fees to all locations on the tour and only comes to 4800 yen! Restaurants at
the aquarium are small and fill up quickly, so either snack elsewhere in the park, have an early lunch,
or be prepared to wait.
3) MUST-GO LOCATIONS: CHURAUMI AQUARIUM AND
OKINAWA WORLD
Okinawa World is a sort of Oki-
nawan theme park. There’s a Ryukyu
village where you can try out various
traditional Okinawan crafts, a snake
museum, and a tropical fruit garden.
However, their most compelling at-
traction is the Gyokusendo Cave. 890
meters are open for the public to walk
through. It was a really great experience
and a great escape from the heat.
4) OKINAWAN FOOD

YAMATO SPRING 2015
There is so SO much to do in Okinawa; I went everywhere by bus and I was there for six days.
Whether you're looking for historical locations (Shuri Castle, Sefa-utaki), nature (Hiji Waterfall), end-
less food and omiyage (Kokusaidori), museums (Okinawa Prefectural Museum, war memorials), or
some real American food (Mihama American village), anything you could want, Okinawa will deliver.
Go along with island time and ゆ～～っくりで. Just remember to put on plenty of sunscreen!
5) GIVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF TIME

YAMATO SPRING 2015
Nagoya Vegan Festival
Kat McCormick
The month of May is enjoyable for many reasons here in Ja-
pan. The weather starts to get really, really nice (hot, but not too
humid), people start having picnics and BBQs and generally hang-
ing out more outside, and of course, let's not forget that we have
the glorious Golden Week holiday - a few days free of ALT du-
ties that can be spent travelling around Japan or elsewhere. Along
with the aforementioned delights, I also have a special event in
May that is fast becoming one of my favourite traditions, and that's
the annual Vegan Gourmet Festival, which takes place in Tsuru-
ma Park, Nagoya. Nagoya is located
in Aichi, the prefecture just to the east
of Mie, so it's not too difficult to get to
from Nara. May 10th 2015 saw the 5th
annual Vegan Gourmet Festival, and
after last year's amazing gastronomic
experience, I just couldn't be kept away!
A vegan-friendly okonomiyaki!

YAMATO SPRING 2015
For vegetarian and vegan tourists, especially those who (understandably!) don't know
much Japanese, without the proper preparation Japan can be a culinary nightmare. Unfortu-
nately, just saying that you're vegan in a restaurant will not automatically guarantee an animal
product free meal.
This is something we learned a few years be-
fore coming over with the JET Programme - even
seemingly OK dishes came out covered in animal
bits, in spite of our best efforts. Blocks of tofu seem-
ingly aren’t considered complete until they’re gar-
nished with fish flakes, steamed vegetables are only
OK when they come with a side of pork sausage,
and no packet of sea salt flavour potato chips could
be considered delicious until it was seasoned with
shrimp... It was quite a surprise just how difficult it
was, and although we planned as carefully as pos-
sible and mostly hit up the vegan specific restaurants for this reason so we were mostly OK, if
you get caught short and are hungry, then it is not fun. (Happy Cow is a great resource for find-
ing great restaurants, and it was a lifesaver for us – do check it out, as it’s worldwide, not just
Japan.
It's just not a well-established concept in Japan, so if you want to eat out, it's often easier
and safer to go to specific vegan friendly places rather than attempt to list everything you won't
eat to the bemused restaurant staff. However, festivals such as this one represent that the times
they are a-changing, and people are becoming more accepting, and even welcoming of such
dietary changes.
The stalls at the Vegan Gourmet Festival vary hugely, and it's not just food that is on
offer there either. Veganism is about so many things, from animal rights and their wellbeing,
to protecting the environment and looking after our health in general, so this festival tries to
represent all of those points, and more. There are stands with literature on animal rights and
animal testing (including a comic that I bought last year - how cool?!), shops selling organic
cotton clothing, nutritional information stands, and even vegan versions of Japanese favourites,
such as okonomiyaki お好み焼き, takoyaki たこ焼き and nikuman 肉まん.
たこ焼き without the たこMaking the tako-less takoyaki
So many people!

YAMATO SPRING 2015
If you’re interested in attending the festival next time, then please take a look at the of-
ficial website for more details. If you took one look at the photos and decided you just can’t wait
til next year, there are plans to host a Vegan Festival in Kyoto this October! It’ll be here sooner
and it's a bit closer to home, so hopefully some of you can go there a little more easily. Happy
Cow can help you in the meantime with recommendations for tasty food in the area, so please
check it out (http://www.happycow.net/).
If you have any questions or comments, or want to know more about veganism in Ja-
pan, we also have the Special Interest Group, VegJET. This group unites the veggie JET com-
munity from all across the country, organizing events, sharing recipes and helping with any
veg-related queries. Please join us if you’re interested in delicious vegan food in Japan. Mail to:
vegjet@ajet.net
It was really refreshing to see and hear so many people asking questions about veganism
in such a beautiful and relaxed environment. Some people (like me) had come over to Nagoya
especially for this festival, but some were clearly just passing through and it captured their
interest. It was great to see everyone enjoying the food, learning about farming practices, and
hearing children asking what the word vegan meant. I'm hopeful that the run up to the Olym-
pics and the influx of tourists from abroad will encourage Japan to get more veggie friendly
festivals and restaurants, and the Nagoya Vegan Gourmet is a great example of how delicious,
compassionate and healthy vegan living can be. My absolute favourite thing is when people try
very famous Japanese dishes like okonomiyaki and takoyaki, and remark at how 美味しい they
are!

YAMATO SPRING 2015
Banana Mug Cake Recipe
Kat McCormick
• All purpose flour - 1/3
cup
• Sugar - 1/4 cup
• Baking powder - 1/4 tsp
• Ground Cinnamon - 1/8
tsp
• Salt - pinch
• Banana - half of medium
size banana, mashed,
about 1/4 cup
• Oil - 1tbsp
• Soy milk - 2 tbsp
• Vanilla - 1/4 tsp
• Toasted Almonds - for
garnish
• Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a mug.
Add all the wet ingredients and mix well to combine. Make sure to
mix from the bottom of the mug.
• Microwave on high for 2 - 2½ minutes until a toothpick inserted
in the center comes out clean.
• You can add frosting, or sauce if you like, but the cake is just
amazing as it is, so you really don’t need to!
Ingredients
I have been a bit addicted to making single serving MUG CAKES
recently - I found this recipe and well it is just amazing. This recipe is from
Cooks Hideout (there’s a chocolate on on the website too!).
Method

YAMATO SPRING 2015
REBUSPUZZLES
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Answers on last page

YAMATO SPRING 2015
Nagahama Glass Blowing
Kat McCormick
Being by the seaside is one of my favourite things, but living in
landlocked Nara means I don’t often have the chance to see much wa-
ter. Whenever I can, however, I try to visit areas with water or coastal
regions. This Golden Week, our destination was Lake Biwa, the largest
fresh-water lake in Japan.
When tourists go to Biwa, the most popular area to stay in is Otsu. So we opted for the third
largest destination, in an attempt to avoid the huge holiday crowds. The town of Nagahama is located
on the north eastern shore of Lake Biwa, and despite its size, still has a number of interesting things
going on. Our trip consisted of visiting a Noh Museum, a local craft beer spot, a museum showcasing
historical floats used in an annual festival, and a
figurine gallery – a real gem for collectors.
The place I want to tell you about however is the
area surrounding Kurokabe Square. This square,
as its name suggests, is focused around a building
with black walls, in which many glass items can
be purchased. Lots of the surrounding buildings
are also preserved in a really cool, old fashioned
style. When we visited Nagahama, the weather
was great, which worked to enhance all of the
stained glass plaques in the many shop windows.
I used to work in a bead-shop in England, and I
am a bit of a stickler for glittery things, so I found
that absolutely everything caught my eye here.

YAMATO SPRING 2015
What I wanted though, was to give the glass-making a go myself. I had read online that there
were sessions in the area, so wandered along to see if they had any free slots. I was in luck! There was
one left, so I had to take it. The experience itself costs 5,000 yen, but if you live outside of the prefecture,
they send you your finished product in the post, so you have to pay an extra charge for delivery, which
is about 1,000 yen extra. After signing up and paying my money, I was led to a waiting area where I
could choose the type of glass item I wanted to make, the design and the colour I wanted it to be. My
favourite colour is blue, so I of course chose two types of blue, a lighter and a darker one, and I decided
after much deliberation, to try a marbled design. You can choose from many different styles of glass
too, so I went for a tumbler type. Next time, I think I’d have done a bowl as that was pretty cool.
Once I’d finalised everything in terms of
colour and style, I was bunched in with a group
of kids – seemingly the only other people having
a go at this – and given the explanation. The staff
didn’t really speak any English here, but there are
signs everywhere explaining what to do, so don’t
let that put you off if your Japanese isn’t so good.
When my turn came around, I was led
into the glass-blowing room, which let me tell
you, was hotter than the sun. The temperature
for glass-blowing is between 870 and 1,040 °C
(1,600 and 1,900 °F) so as you can imagine, on
a hot day, the heat from that oven is intense. As
a precaution, I had to don some stylish denim
sleeves, thick gloves, and a heavy apron, so I felt
like I was boiling alive.
The staff member began the process for
me, by blobbing the lump of glass on the end of
the blowing pipe, and heating it sufficiently for
me. The colours were added, kind of like dabbing
the glass on small pellets of colour, then I was giv-
en the pipe so I could expand the pattern. It’s hard
to blow the pipe actually, because it is constantly
turning so it doesn’t just droop down, cool off
and set one way. Also, you don’t really get to see
the true colour until the glass cools down – until
then, it’s a weird red colour, simply because of the
heat of it!!

YAMATO SPRING 2015
After a couple of attempts, my glass started
to take shape, and I could see the pattern spread-
ing out. Once you get to that stage, you need to
start shaping it into an actual item. There are vari-
ous tools that can be used for this - the one that
is used to spread the actual opening of the glass
outwards is a giant pincer type device shown in
this photo.
This one could be used to create a bottle
neck too, so it was very creative. To give the edges
of the glass the correct flatness, I had to use a kind
of wooden paddle with a straight edge. This part
was important as it determined whether my glass
would be easy to drink from, or a complete mess!
Once the glass was blown out enough,
and the staff member was satisfied that it was the
right shape and size, I posed for a photo and then
it was time to release the glass. She made a few
small cuts around the part where I had blown
into, and told me to tap it with the tool. The glass
came off and was complete!
The whole process was really good fun,
and very interesting to see in action. I would defi-
nitely recommend this, and the Nagahama area in
general. It’s not so touristy, and it is small enough
to cover in a couple of days, so why don’t you take
a trip to Shiga prefecture and try glass-making
yourself.

YAMATO SPRING 2015
Finding Myself in Yamato
Stephanie Breck
For quite some time I have been dying to come to Japan. I
was mostly fascinated by the language, culture, food and of course,
the anime. I started to casually learn Japanese about 7 years ago
but didn’t get very far until I took some classes in university. I
went to Japanese festivals in Vancouver, ate sushi at local restau-
rants and watched my fair share of anime and Ghibli films. People
would always ask me why I chose Japan out of all places in the
world and I told them my reasons but didn’t feel confident that
those were the real reasons that I wanted to go. Some of the people
close to me were quite shocked when I told them that I was going
abroad and couldn’t imagine how I could leave home for such a
long time. Even though I hadn’t lived overseas before and had no
idea what it would be like, I felt this overwhelming urge, desire,
magnetic pull, whatever you want to call it, to leave home and go
live in Japan. I
just couldn’t ex-
plain it in a way
that made sense
to me. It was just
a feeling and I
simply needed to
go.

YAMATO SPRING 2015
After coming to Japan, I was waiting for
the culture shock to set in. Friends and family
back home would ask me if I had experienced
culture shock yet and I hadn’t. And I still
haven’t. I thought that at the very least, the lan-
guage barrier, the way people interacted with
each other, or the overstuffed trains would af-
fect me but still nothing. So even now, I’m still
trying to figure out why it’s been so easy to ad-
just here and maybe it’s because I knew a bit
of Japanese before coming. Or maybe it’s be-
cause I like eating weird foods like natto and
thought Japanese anime was awesome. Who
knows, but all I can say is that after coming to
Japan, I have never felt more like myself. And
by this I just mean that I feel like I’m doing ex-
actly what I’m supposed to be doing. Don’t get
me wrong though, I still have my good, bad,
and sometimes very bad days but I can’t imag-
ine any other place that I’d rather be right now.
Everyday I’m thankful for the life that I have
here and how lucky I am to still be here now.
I know it’s finite and will come to an end but
I am really trying to get as much out of it as I
can.
I have missed home though. A lot. To
come out here, I’ve had to make sacrifices.
Missing out on weddings, births, birthdays
and graduations of close friends and family
is the price I’ve had to pay to live abroad. To
be honest, being there for those kind of mile-
stones is one of the reasons that had deterred
me from making the move to Japan earlier.
However, I had finally come to the conclusion
that if I didn’t take the leap and move to Ja-
pan, that I would always be wondering, ‘what
if?’ With the support of my
family and friends, I decided to apply for
JET and take this enormous leap. And I must
say that it has been, by far, the best deci-
sion I have ever made. If I hadn’t have come
to Japan, these are some of the things that I
would’ve missed out on:
• making amazing new friends
• learning American Sign Language to; teach my
hearing-impaired students
• becoming a more organized me
• living in a prefecture that has so much natural
and historical beauty to offer
• watching monkeys bathe in hot springs
• doing extensive sessions of karaoke and losing
my voice the day after
• exploring my love for cooking and doing it with-
out an oven
• finding out how much I love and appreciate my
family and friends
• having broken yet successful conversations in
Japanese
• exploring new cities and places almost every
weekend all the while stuffing my face with deli-
cious local foods.

YAMATO SPRING 2015
For leaving JETs, I hope that you soak up every ounce of Japan that you can before you
go home. This country is truly incredible. Make a list of all the awesome things that you’ve been
able to do while you are still here to give yourself that sense of accomplishment before you go
home. Look at the million photos that you’ve taken, belt out some karaoke and go to all of your
favourite izakayas. Hang out with your friends that have been on the same JET-coaster ride as
you and reminisce about all of the good times.
Even though I will only be here for a couple of years, I’ve found a new piece of myself
that I can take home with me and onto my next adventure. Japan has given me something that
I may never be able to put into words but it will be with me for the rest of my life.
いつもありがとうございます日本！

YAMATO SPRING 2015
REBUSPUZZLES
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For the common defense
Aren’t you ready yet?
Circle of friends
Ship on the high seas

Yamato Spring 2015

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