Surviving in the heat?
It has been one really brutal summer so far in terms of the heat wave that we’ve been getting hit with. Hope everyone has been able to find a way to stay cool. The fireworks festivals are over, and Obon vacation has come and passed, and we are now heading into cooler months...VERY SOON I hope! This month’s newsletter shares a travel story from one of our fellow trainers. Big “B” Brian headed off to Korea during his Obon break and talks a little bit about his adventure there. In addition, Dale contributed a short article and pictures of a trip he had done a few winters ago to Nikko. He wanted to submit images of “wintery cool” to hopefully help our minds forget about how nasty hot the weather has been recently. Other things to note in this month’s issue, is a new 2-minute mystery (along with the answer to the previous one), and events that are going on around Japan during September. And don’t forget to check out the Hawaiian Word of the month. Until next month!
Spicy and Hot in Seoul
By Brian
안녕하세요 Anehaseyo! After only 3 days in Seoul I have become completely fluent in the language! Amazing! Over the Obon holiday I took a short trip over the Japan Sea to Japan’s closest neighbor. With only a 1 hour and 45 minute flight, I didn’t have enough time to watch my in-flight movie. We arrive at Gimpo, pronounced Kimpo, the smaller of the 2 international airports near Seoul. Checked into the hotel and started walking around to find a good yakiniku restaurant. It then hit me that I cannot read Hangul which made finding a restaurant a bit difficult. We finally found a nice place and ordered some yakiniku. Korean style is a bit different to Japanese style where the piece of meat is pretty big as it is cooked and then as it becomes cooked we use scissors to cut it into bite sizes pieces (see picture below). The beef Han-oo which I believe is a type of Korean cow was absolutely fabulous! Every order comes with a lot of kimchi and other spicy dishes. A nice cold beer goes very nicely with the spice!
Seoul has a lot of great shopping and market areas. Some of the more popular areas are Myeong-dong, Dongdaemon, and Namdaemon. My favorite was Namdaemon. Inside the market there were hundreds of small shops selling just about everything you can imagine or want. I bought a really cool Bibimba spoon and chopsticks set. Other markets had famous Korean items such as dried seaweed, cosmetics, brand name goods and the fake kind were also available!
Also on the list of things to see in the city were the old palaces of the past kings of Korea. My favorite was Changekeokgung Palace (see picture above). It had a beautiful Korean style garden and had a lot of interesting facts about the daily lives of the kings and queens of Korea.
All in all it was a great trip and I highly recommend it for those who want to take a short trip outside Japan. Obon season airline tickets were a bit pricey but on the off season you could find great deals for a reasonable price and it would be possible to spend only 2 days and get a nice feel of the city. I didn’t experience much English so knowing a few Korean phrases can be very helpful and actually many people can speak Japanese. Happy Travels!
Seoul, Korea Fun Facts
Nikko
by Dale
If you are like me, the last thing I want to see is another shrine or temple. After my travels around Taiwan and China and now Japan, I have literally seen hundreds of temples and shrines. I have little desire to see another one, except for Nikko.
Nikko is a small city north of Tokyo and the edge of forests and mountains. As far as I know it's only industry is tourism. I went to Nikko in December, 2004. (Actually the first time was in 1986 when I was visiting Japan with my sister, but I didn't remember the places we went.) Nikko is a popular destination for foreigners, probably because it is close to Tokyo and easy to get to by train, if you can find the station. I had just bought a digital camera and wanted to try it out. Perhaps the pictures in the newsletter are not as good as on my computer, but the pictures really turned out beautifully. Being summer now, hopefully the thoughts of snow will help to cool you off.
Nikko is also famous for the original 3 monkeys, hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. There is also a famous waterfall which you cannot see in winter but can hear. And of course, there are many hotels with hot springs. So if you are wondering where to go on your next trip around Japan, consider Nikko.
Hawaiian Word of the Month
“Kokua”
“Kokua” is a word you will often find on public signs or in stores or restaurants in Hawaii. It basically means “cooperation” and is used to ask for your understanding and consideration to others. A similar example to this in Japan is the work “kyouryoku (協力)” which is also used in the same way as “kokua”. So the next time you go somewhere in Japan, or if you go to Hawaii, try to keep an eye out for these words!
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Case of the Accidental Drowning (2-Minute Mystery - #2)
When I arrived at Sandyside River, there were a few police officers and a small gathering of onlookers. Two of the officers were standing on the public docks talking to what looked like an extremely well tanned gentleman who was wearing a bathing suit. Next to them in the water was a canoe that looked like it had seen better days. After approaching the trio, I introduced myself to the tanned fellow, who was looking very upset, and asked him what had happened.
“It’s simply terrible Inspector! My friend Jim and I were out canoeing when I suggested that we give the Sunnyside rapids a go,” said the distraught man as he pointed in a southern direction towards the rapids. “Jim was a little concerned as he had never been in a canoe before today but I told him there was no need to worry, I would steer, all he had to do was paddle. Unfortunately, the rapids were a little more difficult than I remembered. I‘m not sure exactly what happened or when he fell out, all that I know is that when I got to the end of the rapids, I turned around and he was not there.”
I looked down at the canoe and observed that there were a couple of lifejackets and one wooden paddle with a large crack within the blade. I was just about to inquire as to how the paddle became damaged when the man stated, “Hell, I didn’t even notice that. My paddle is broken. I guess I must have cracked it on one of the rocks while I was traversing the rapids.”
“Yes, that is possible, “ I said. “But it is more likely that it cracked when you used it to hit Jim!”
Why did Inspector Nose suspect that Jim’s drowning was not an accident?
Solution will be posted in the next newsletter, but if you think you know the answer & want to check it right away, email “fiappcom@yahoo.com” and we’ll tell you if you got it correct or not.
Answer to last month’s 2-min mystery...
The solution to last month’s mystery is quite simple. At the beginning of the story, it was noted that it was raining very hard. If Robbie had done what he said which was he ran outside to identify the robber’s car, if he had just returned to the store right before Detective Nose came in, the floor would have been wet, which Detective Nose noted was spotless when he arrived, hence why he suspected Robbie was lying.
