Stories from Sendai, Issue #7, March 11, 2002

Welcome to another Story - winter is starting to wind down.  We've had a few days where no thermal underwear was needed, but our parkas have not yet been put away!  

About a week after our last newsletter, February 17th, Barbara had her birthday. Yet, the way she had been hinting and talking about it, her birthday may as well have been during the last week in January! As most of you know, our tradition is to surprise the birthday person.  So Todd kept her completely in the dark -- even suggesting that he had forgotten (he hadn't) and that they should postpone her birthday another three weeks. Though a joke, Barbara's hackles were up. Todd was snickering. His secret plans weren't even divulged to close friends or family. Barbara was completely clueless until after we got off the bus in downtown Sendai.  He distracted her by taking her into the Vivre Department Store, hinting that they had a lot of walking to do... only to lead her directly across the street to a Pachinko Parlor!  

Pachinko is a very popular pastime in Japan.  We think of it as "gambling lite."  Let us describe our first and only experience.  We walked in the front doors, and the first impression was a WAVE of sound.  Cheesy electronic music coupled with the clattering of thousands of little marble-sized balls through what must be hundreds of machines.  We walked up to the counter, looking lost and gaijin-like. A friendly female clerk -- whose English was about as good as our Japanese -- led us to a card machine.  She showed us that we could buy 1000 yen, or 5000 yen cards, which would be inserted into the Pachinko machines.  Then she asked us to choose which machines we wanted.  Both of us figured we would take the closest open machines, and plopped ourselves onto the chairs of a game called "Bee!"  We slipped our 1000 yen cards into the slot, and the machine spit out something like 200 balls.  The clerk showed us how to turn the little dial on the bottom, to cause the balls to shoot from left to right into the top of the machine, like pinball.  The balls would clink their way down many little metallic pins and land at the bottom.  Well, we sat there, turning our dials, and sometimes, the balls would go into special slots and cause special things to happen on the small video screen in the middle.  These slots usually just added extra balls.  We could see all around us that people had collected buckets full of balls which they kept directly under the machine.  We had nothing in our buckets yet.  We began to wonder, were we doing this right? All the while, our balls were moving at lightning speeds up and through the pins making lots of noise. Quite frankly, we weren't sure what all the hype was about concerning this form of entertainment. And, as we had run out of balls with nothing to show for the effort, we figured another go couldn't hurt. 

(an example of a row of pachinko machines -- the Pachinko companies usually don't allow you to take photos inside the parlor.)

Well, we tried again (the card gave us two games each).  Then, through experimentation, Barbara started noticing that you could control the speed of the balls shooting out, and that when the balls landed in the special slots, that the video screen turned into a type of slot machine, and that turning the dial slowly or quickly affected the screen.  Suddenly, the machine started flashing and making A LOT of noise -- more than usual -- and Barbara had no idea what to do!  Pretty soon there was a crowd of at least twelve to fifteen people all around her game, humming and hawing about how to explain what this ignorant gaijin should do next. Somehow, Barbara figured out she had gotten a jackpot of sorts. Finally a clerk came over, opened the machine, and cranked out a bunch of extra balls so that Barbara could take advantage of this jackpot she had started.  Some of the male patrons who had gathered kept pointing to a certain spot at the top of the machine. Finally one of them showed Barbara how to turn the dial just so, causing the balls to shoot to that spot, and therefore be more likely to land in an extra door slot that had opened for the jackpot.  The machine went through something like 15 rounds of jackpots, and the bucket underneath filled to the brim.

This was enough success for one day!  Technically one can replay the balls one wins to try for ever greater amounts of balls, but we decided to cash out.  We gave the bucket to a clerk, who dumped them into a counting machine.  He gave us a receipt, then directed us to the front counter.  She thanked us, gave Barbara a cheese stick and some cash cards, and tried to explain that we should go around the corner.  We had no idea what she was talking about.  Another clerk took us outside, pointed us toward a side door and left.  Apparently, it is illegal to give out the cash prizes within the parlor itself.  At the side door, we handed the cards over and received 5000 yen (about $40)!  Wow!  We made double what we spent.  If not for the nice people inside, we would have walked away with nothing but slightly deafened hearing. Oh, and Todd? He had fun watching Barbara have a terrific birthday!

The first weekend in March we got to attend a conference for JASCD (Japan Association for Curriculum and Supervision Development), of which we are both members. It is an affiliate of ASCD, an educational entity based in Alexandria, Virginia. The conference was in Tokyo. Other than passing by on the Shinkansen, we never had visited Japan's capital city.  TIS paid for our fees, hotel, and travel expenses.  

We got to stay at Kimi Ryokan - a traditional Japanese inn that caters to foreigners. Never mind that these accommodations were about 30 minutes away from our conference -- the place was extremely cozy. We stayed in a "large" room -- 6 tatami mats (abt. 2m x 3m). Futons were made on the floor, with large fluffy blankets that kept the cold out. There were no decorations in the rooms to speak of, no heat or air conditioning, and no food was allowed in the room. Showers and toilets were communal. For security reasons, only those registered for the rooms could enter them. All other socialization was to be done in a central parlor, complete with kitchenette, drink machines and a table for eating. A satellite television and heated tile floor allowed for some measure of comfort there. The man who operated the inn was quite friendly, and our stay there was more than pleasant.

For three days, from 8:30am to 5:00pm, we took part in an intensive workshop.  The workshops were held at the New Sanno Hotel and The International School of the Sacred Heart close by. We didn't have very much free time, but on Friday night, we jumped on the JR train to go to Akihabara.  Known as "Electric Town," Akihabara is a huge collection of shops selling all manner of electronics at discount prices.  We didn't have much time -- only an hour before most of the shops closed -- but we were able to hit at least three large stores. We were able to buy the electronic Japanese-English dictionary a friend wanted for 2500 yen less.  At the end of the weekend, Todd went back to Sendai alone, but Barbara and Daryl went to Costco in Makuhari, Chiba.  To get there, we had to ride a JR Keiyo train for about 30 minutes, passing by Tokyo Disneyland, and then take another bus from the Kaihin Makuhari station.  But it was worth it!  The place was two stories high, and filled with lots of comfort products, as well as a lot of Japanese products.  Too bad we live so far away from the Tokyo area.

Getting back to Sendai that Sunday afternoon and evening was tiring -- then, to realize that we had to be back in the classroom the next morning was little comfort. No rest for the weary, as they say. The week, further exhausting, culminated in a trip to Shikama-cho this past Saturday. The locals there have an English club, in which a number of the city's children take part. As their guests, we were treated to a Taiko drumming concert. For a solid 25 minutes, the rhythmic pounding of traditional Japanese drums -- large, small, and in-between -- rang in our ears and souls. Though the concert was delightful, and somewhat hypnotic, the true delight for Todd especially was getting to pound out some of the week's aggressions on the drums. The children and parents had been put into groups before the concert. After the concert, each row was welcomed to the stage where young and old, shy and confident, took drumsticks in hand and tried to follow the lead drummer. Some of us who braved the stage may have been more like Thoreau's drummer -- beating our own rhythms to mix with those around us, following our hearts more than our musical ear. And overall, it didn't matter whether we beat in time or banged our own way. We all made music that -- despite all -- sounded pleasantly loud. With the drumming finished, but our ears still ringing and our feet a-tapping, we ate a lunch of miso soup, sakura rice (grated pickled cherry and rice with some other seasonings), and daikon (a large white radish) salad that some wonderful grandmotherly types had prepared. Oishii-katta desu (It was delicious). Group games tired both children and adults alike, and got the kids of Shikama-cho introduced to the likes of us gaijin. After our games and introductions, our hosts took us by bus to a small onsen about 15 minutes away. All of the teachers opted out of the experience this time, feeling professionalism would have been compromised. We may return to that onsen some day, though not with our school kids! 

Spring Break comes in about two weeks, and then the slide into summer begins. We'll let you know in the next installment how our Spring Break goes...and anything else, of course, that might let you know what is happening to us in far-away Japan. 

Todd & Barbara Thomas :-)

The Pachinko Parlor where Barbara won 5000 yen! (And the free cheese stick.)

Barbara's K-4 class gives her a birthday party.

Akihabara at night.

Taiko drumming at Shikama-cho.

Click here for a short MPEG movie of the performance.

Barbara, then Todd experimenting on the Taiko drums.