6/29 Omicho Market,Shikindai Junior High,Ishikawa Nationa College of Technology, Night life

 Woke up early and met Aimee and Jen and we walked over to the Omicho Market. While the market hadn't opened yet, much of the food was out and we were able to take lots of cool photographs of interesting fish products and some other stuff which will remain a mystery to me.

Mystery stuff!

At 8:30 we caught a bus to Shikindai Junior High school. We arrived to the usual warm welcome. We were greeted with a speech and a brief outline of the education for sustainable development activities at the school. We then visited classes which included Taiko drumming, tea ceremony, Noh Theater and Kaga Yuzen dyeing. We also had a chance to look at some other classes.

Recycling bottle caps

Preparing for the meeting

Principal introduction

Taiko drumming

Tea ceremony class

Preparing scenery for the Noh play

Preparing Kaga Yuzen (silk dyeing)

Kaga Yuzen Kimono

Americans try Kaga Yuzen

Student Work

Science class, making guns from chopsticks!

Our next stop was the Ishikawa National College of Technology. We had lunch in the school cafeteria. The lunch is quite impressive I really enjoyed the shrimp tempura.

Beat this for school lunch!

 We were then met by the President and given a brief outline of the school by the Vice President. We were then given a tour of some classes which included a class on remote sensing, an architecture class in which they designed chairs made from wood thinned from the forest, and another class where they were developing ways to filter water for purification. This was the first place in which I'd seen technology, like whiteboards and computers, readily available to students.

Remote sensing class

Water filtration

Testing the water

Chair design. More comfortable than it looks!

More chairs

After our tour of the classes we had a meeting in which we were told about the education for sustainable development activities the school. We then met with teachers and discussed environmental projects ongoing in both countries.

English Workshop

We were then invited to the 44th English club workshop, where we were honored guests. The we shared a tea ceremony, lots of formal introductions, and then we were headed off with groups of students in order to give them an opportunity to practice their English. It was a lot of fun.

English Workshop

Later that evening I hooked up with Terry, Jess, Ed and Yo-yo. We had decided to explore Kanazawa's darker side. Apparently, when the salarymen are done with work they head to small bars where they meet up with young women. These women actors hostesses and pour drinks etc. The men woo these women and is quite a business in candy and huge bouquets of flowers which apparently are part of the wooing process. Anyway, there is a district in Kanazawa where these activities take place. It is full of small bars and karaoke lounges and shops which sell candy and flowers. It is a very interesting place to walk around. We found a neat place where they make tiny balls of egg which contain octopus. They also had black sesame ice cream. It made for a delicious dinner. We walked around and discovered a little alleyway full of tiny bars with enough room to seat eight people. We sat down in one of these bars ordered drinks and food was laid in front of us. Mostly different items in a dashi broth. It was quite an adventure.

Octopus balls (not really, eggs with octopus in them!)