Japan - Muroran

My flight to Narita was uneventful, although as I was flying with ANA I hadn't really expected anything else. We landed on time and I went straight to passport control, pretty much straight through and then out into the arrivals hall as I didn't have to wait for my luggage as I hadn't checked any. I landed at 07.20 and I was on a bus to Haneda at 07.40. The bus ride was smooth, I even managed to nap. I arrived at Haneda a little before 09.00 and changed my flight from 11.30 to 09.30. So far everything was going swimmingly and since I only had hand luggage I was able to access my coat,scarf and change my footwear. While waiting for the bus at Narita I had definitely noticed the change in temperature but then it was about 25C different! I arrived at Chitose on time and was on the 12.49 train to Muroran. I could not have planned my journey better myself, it went so smoothly. At every stage things had connected so precisely, it was part luck and part me knowing where to go and how to buy a ticket. When I had landed at Chitose the airport was covered in snow, but I wasn't worried as Muroran doesn't normally get a lot of snow even if the surrounding areas do. Imagine my surprise when I arrived in Muroran and yes, you guessed it, it was covered in snow. I have never seen so much snow in the city at this time of year. Just my luck! However it wasn't too cold, the temperature was hovering around zero, it could have been colder.
As I had arrived earlier than I expected I went straight to Choice and had sushi for lunch. To complete my return I then went for a bath at Raku Raku. Nothing had changed in these two places and I felt so much better after having eaten and bathed. I was due to meet Satoru at the train station, or so I thought but he didn't turn up there so I went over to his apartment. He was home but his wife, Kana, wasn't. We sat around for a bit chatting and then went to old Muroran town and the coffee shop which Kana has opened. It was good to see them both and I was feeling a little better about things. I had been nervous about returning to Muroran, even just for this short visit. After having coffee with Kana, Satoru and I went back to Nakajima and to Ippei for dinner. Satoru had managed to round up a few of the people left in Muroran to come out and have dinner with me. Kesukei, my Japanese dentist and snowboarding buddy, Big Keiko, Kazu, her husband, little Keiko and Ichiro, the phone guy were there! It was almost like old times and that's what made it a little sad. Everyone has moved on with their lives,which is to be expected, but it made the evening a mixture of old and new memories. Even now I am not sure if the old memories won or not. They were certainly at the forefront of my mind that evening and at other times in the trip. The food was as amazing as I had remembered, that at least hadn't changed.
I left Satoru's the next morning and checked in to the New Budget hotel, another strange experience. I had never had an occasion to stay in a hotel in Muroran before. I went to Koyou junior high school, just around the corner from the hotel. I was hoping to catch my old boss, Itou Sensei in the office before the school closed down for the New Years holiday. I was lucky, he was in the staff room and happy to see me. We had coffee and then he asked me what I was planning to do next. I said that I wanted to visit the Board of Education, he decided that he was going to take me. This was great, I was finding it interesting getting around my old town without a car or bicycle of my own and I wasn't sure where the office was. I knew that the BoE had moved but I thought it had moved into the new city hall but it was in the old city hall. Takahashi Sensei was there, it was great to see him and Nakazawa San, my old personal boss. Again,another another bittersweet moment. We discussed the current AET teachers, Muroran now has three as they have to visit all of the elementary schools. After I visited the BoE I wanted to visit a shrine in old Muroran that I had never managed to get to while I had lived there. I told Sakae Sensei this and he told Itou Sensei who decided that he would take me, along with Nakazawa San. He also asked me to join him for a office party he was going to that
night of all the junior high school vice-principals, of course I said yes.
Hachiguman Jinja was great, it has a good position on a hill overlooking the city. We then had curry ramen for lunch, Itou Sensei's treat. I was very happy, within 24 hours of being back n town I had eaten all three foods I had been looking forward to the most. Furthermore I would go back to Ippei for the vice-principals enkai. Sweet! Itou Sensei dropped me back at the hotel and I went to the internet cafe, it's just as well I did. Before Christmas I had made a reservation for Darren and I to stay at a resort in the Maldives, managed by a friend of Anna's. I had had to send them a fax with my credit card details, they had sent me an email saying that they had not received the fax. Luckily I had all the paperwork with me, I got it scanned and emailed it straight back to the hotel. And then started to update this blog! I had forgotten how great Japanese internet cafes are. The cubicle I was in was totally enclosed, I had a big reclining seat, unlimited drinks and access to a shower. In Vietnam you get a row of computers and that's pretty much it. You have to look around for a cafe with a printer, let alone a scanner!
Itou Sensei was on time and we walked from the hotel to Ippei. Dinner was great, even better because I knew a majority of the teachers present. There were one or two who had transferred into Muroran after I had left but other than that it was all familiar faces. I was gratified by the amount of Japanese I could understand although I was sat next to Sakae Sensei and opposite Takahashi Sensei so didn't really need it. There was one other female, a former student of mine who now works in the BoE. She said she remembered me, I am not sure if that is good or bad it certainly made me feel old! After Ippei we moved onto the J Trip bar for the second party. There was more beer and karaoke and yes I sang. In Japan it doesn't seem to matter if you can't sing, as long as you do it with heart! Then to round the night off we went to a Soba restaurant, I didn't eat anything else but I did have another couple of beers. Itou Sensei paid my bill for the whole evening and I walked with Takahashi Sensei part of the way to my hotel before he headed off to his. My first 36 hours in Muroran had been everything I had hoped it would be and more. I hadn't been to one of these enkais before so it was a new experience, just what I needed to stop me dwelling on the past. I was concentrating too much on what I had had and not enough on what I have now. It's a failing of mine, especially around New Years, I always look back instead of forward. And it always makes me feel sad, I don't do well at the end of the year.