22nd Jozenji StreetJazz Festival

When I first came to Japan, I saw posters for the upcoming annual Jozenji StreetJazz Festival in Sendai.  It happens every September, and vowed I would return to be a part of it, whether as an audience member, performer, volunteer, or otherwise.  Now two years later, I can say I've made that vow come true.

Unfortunately, the event itself was not the super awesome event I dreamed it would be, but admittedly that was mostly due to extraneous issues.  Issues like getting lost and missing my train by half an hour, my phone's mail program imploding upon itself while I tried to contact a friend, and pushing myself beyond the point of exhaustion after having my school's sports festival and ensuing party the day prior.  I also wasn't prepared for just how crowded it would be (somehow, the fact that this took place on 48 stages throughout all of Sendai didn't quite get the message across) and I found myself amongst an overwhelming crowd.  But one good thing did happen: I met a new friend there who is also a fan of my favorite composer, and is going to share information with me about her upcoming projects and events!  As far as the troublesome parts go, I'm sure next year I will be better prepared to have a less stressful visit to one of the largest music festivals I've ever been to.

This event started as a jazz festival 22 years ago, but today it has grown to incorporate music from many different genres, ranging from rock to folk, acoustic to fully-miced.  A more accurate name for the festival as it is today would be "Sendai Music Festival," but they do pay homage to their origins, and if one walks along Jozenji street, you'll find all the jazz venues you could ask for.  Go beyond Jozenji street, and that's when you start to find all sorts of other genres, categorized by stage and listed in the program.  This festival holds something for everyone with their eclectic mix of performances and venues.  The StreetJazz Festival was quite superb beyond my personal problems, and now I want to share the pictures I got to give readers an idea of the venues.

This is a view of Jozenji Street.  This is the street where all the jazz can be found.  It's famous for being lined with these beautiful trees.

At some point in the year, these trees get decorated with lights like Christmas trees to celebrate events in Sendai.

This was our view upon arriving from our train in Sendai station: on the second level above the clock, they had performers singing vocal jazz, usually in groups of about 4-5 people with piano accompaniment.

This is what many of the venues look like: just a person on the street, hence the thesis of the StreetJazz Festival. This guy recruited a bunch of kids to sing along with his pop tunes.

This was fun to see as we approached the end of the street.  The performers are above the street way at the end.  They had an area in the middle of the street for people to stand and observe without obstructing other pedestrians.

Here's a closer view.  This was an acapella group singing jazz tunes.

This was one of the bigger stages, and the event we caught was a time-slot for high schoolers to perform. Most of the songs were rock band covers.  Each group of kids, mostly girls, performed one or two songs, and the talent varied from awesome (these girls probably didn't have good academic grades, but wrote their own original songs) to mediocre (probably students who joined music club at their school, but don't plan on becoming rock stars).

This was the main stage, Stage Number 1 at the whole festival, and had big bands playing most of the day, then held the night performances for both days as well.  

This is the view from further back.  I actually saw a big band perform at this very spot two years ago when I was out and about in Sendai on my last visit.  Although not part of the jazz fest then, they seemed to be a part of another festival happening in June.  I believe it was a handicapped awareness event, something essentially unheard of in Japan.  Seeing this brought back good memories of visiting Japan for the first time and memories of the cooler months.

This was my favorite stage, hands down.  It was in the Sendai Media building, a famous building that also happens to have amazing acoustic properties.  This stage was set up for jazz combos, and each combo we stayed to hear was solid.  At this point, we grabbed seats and drinks at the indoor cafe right next to this stage, and sat down at the table to enjoy some jazz combos.

This was another of the smaller stages with a pretty view.  It saw mostly folk performers, and here is a group playing folk tunes with a couple stringed instruments including guitar and an Okinawan shamisen.

At the end of the day, all stages shut down, and the crowd came back to the main stage for the night event.  I wasn't able to get a good picture as we weren't in the actual venue, but out on the sidewalk past the fenced-in crowd.  The stage was well-lit, and the acts varied from almost-jazz to some interesting world music to some strange thing that I wasn't entirely sure what to categorize it as.  I took the opportunity to leave early and catch my train before the crowd flooded the train station, and my new friend went with me on the subway to help make sure I got the right ticket and got on the right train.  

Overall, I was impressed with the Jozenji StreetJazz Festival, and I look forward to going next year in the hopes that it won't conflict with my school's annual sports day festival.  I also plan on buying a t-shirt before they sell out.

Unlocked iPhone in Japan

Good news everyone! I have an unlocked iPhone, and after waiting a long time for my resident's card, I was finally able to get a SIM card! I brought over my unlocked iPhone, and despite being told "Not gonna work," more times than I can count, I assured them that Apple isn't stupid, nor am I, and yes it would. Sure enough, I just had to find the right company!

I actually went through Docomo, the one carrier that "doesn't" support iPhone. They got smart and are now offering SIMs to unlocked iPhone users. Makes sense, it allows them to tap into the iPhone market and get some of the business from AU and Softbank. It just has to be unlocked, of course. This can be done the way I did (purchase it unlocked) or if you've finished your phone contract and it's eligible for "unlocking." They're already micro SIMs, and I was able to get mine under a 2-year contract, which, even if I only stay for one year and pay the cancellation fee, still saves me money. But I hope to stay in Japan for two years anyways, and now I have awesome internet with tethering (which I don't even know how to use, but will find out) and didn't have to buy a data only SIM and make an attempt at getting a local number through Skype (which is also a viable option for those of you who enjoy VoiP). This is easier for me because it's one bill, all in yen, and all to the same place.

Getting the SIM was the same process as getting an entirely new phone, including the part where it takes forever. I had my supervisor there to translate and help, otherwise there'd have been no way I could've gotten any of this done. We went to the Docomo store, and had to talk to the representative (not within my Japanese ability) so if you're looking to get a SIM, try to find someone who can help you get it all figured out to save you any extra trouble. She also helped me after to set up the data and mail. Because Docomo doesn't officially support iPhone, you have to manually input the settings for data and mail server connections. Docomo gave me a booklet that made it look way more complicated than it actually is, and my supervisor helped me bypass their stupid steps to input the right data, and off I went. iPhone works, life is good.

Moral of the story: if you have an unlocked iPhone, it will work, just don't let them tell you otherwise. Be persistent, it will pay off, and you get to keep your phone in the end.

Natural Disaster Safety

I'm writing this new entry to assure everyone of my safety living in Japan.  I hope that by now, everyone knows I am safe, but I already had several people show concern in reaction to my location, so I'm going to educate those who may be worried.  I received a lot of these details from my Prefectural Advisor in his presentation on the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake of March 11, 2011.  I want to cover the 3 main topics of concern in light of the Great East Japan Earthquake and for future safety: tsunamis, radiation, and earthquakes.

Tsunamis

I live in Miyagi prefecture.  Miyagi prefecture is on Japan's eastern coast, and was the prefecture that got his hardest by the tsunami resulting from the March 11th earthquake as its epicenter was due east of us.  Miyagi prefecture's capital is Sendai, and I live in Tome, about an hour's train ride north.  Sendai is a wide city whose borders reach from far inland all the way to the ocean.  Fun fact, my Japanese professor's family's house was on the beach in Sendai.  Another not-so-fun fact, their house was completely wiped off the beach when the tsunami hit in March 2011.  The before and after pictures she showed me were unreal: the before showed a complete civilization on the shore, but the after made the beach look like a deserted island.  The only building left standing was my teacher's elementary school, a 3 story building where people evacuated during the tsunami.  People evacuated to the second floor, but then the water kept rising.  Even the second story wasn't safe.

This seems to be the image people have of Japan when they think of tsunamis.  I want to assure everyone that I do not have beachfront property, and am in no danger of this happening to the house I live in.  In fact, I have this house because the families who lost their houses last year moved here and filled up all the vacant apartments.  True story.  Another JET in Tome said the apartments were empty besides her, then after the tsunami, people filled up her complex.

My teacher's family was all safe and they evacuated in time after the Great East Japan Earthquake.  There was about a half hour's notice until the wave reached the shore, and Japan has a wonderful system in place to warn people before an earthquake happens, including specific chimes that go off on all phones and a chime for all televisions that are on.  So if I happen to be close to the ocean when an earthquake happens, I trust in Japan's warning system to give me sufficient evacuation time.

Radiation

Following the March 11th disaster, the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear reactors suffered from an INES Level 7 Nuclear Accident.  I received concerns that I had not considered radiation in my decision to request Miyagi prefecture as my new home when applying for JET.  If you are wondering the same, I have good news.

First and foremost, I am over 116 miles away from the plant.  Fukushima prefecture borders Miyagi to the south, but the plant is quite a long distance from me.  Second, please understand that foreign media coverage on the event was entirely exaggerated, and was immediately compared to Chernobyl.  Although this was no minor incident, it in no way resembled Chernobyl.  Also realize that the media is looking to scare its audience, and this was an easy subject for them to run with as radiation is not something humans can tangibly perceive.  But just because we cannot immediately see it or touch it doesn't mean we have to live in fear of it.  CIRs involved in the JET Programme took a good look into legitimate scientific articles written by nuclear scientists, and no one found any reason for panic.  Radiation was emitted, of course, but the people in that city were evacuated (due to the tsunami anyways) and there is currently a perimeter around the plant that cannot be entered.  Any food grown in that area has been banned from sale, and all food sold in stores is thoroughly tested by the government.  I was also surprised to learn that the allowance of radiation in foods sold in Japan is much lower than what is accepted in America.  That's right, I'm safer than you are!

If this is not enough to convince you, I can send along the sources found by my PA, and after that, it's up to you to decide for yourself.

Earthquakes

This is by far the biggest concern to my well-being of these three main issues.  I grew up in a place where earthquakes didn't happen, or if they did, it was faint and was never a concern but more of a novelty: "Oh, did you feel that earthquake?  Wasn't that neat!"  Well, now I have to legitimately consider the danger of large earthquakes, as demonstrated by a recent Miyagi earthquake that happened at 4 am, and registered around 4-5 on Japan's Shindo scale.  

Japan uses a slightly different scale for earthquakes than America: instead of measuring the earthquake at its epicenter, Japan rates the amount of shaking around the earthquake.  The shindo scale is used to measure this, and ranges from 0 to 7.  0 is hardly noticed, 3 is what I was used to in Southern California, 5 is when things start moving, and 7 is what happened on March 11th, 2011.  Ranks 5 and 6 are divided between lower and upper, 5 upper being when warnings on phones start going off.  This is the point at which you need to seek cover under a desk so nothing falls on you.

Perhaps one of the greatest reliefs to those of us who are new JETs this year is that each of our respective structures, unless they are under one year old, all survived the Great East Japan Earthquake.  My house lived through that day, and the only evidence I can find of it is one significant crack in the ceiling of the skinny part of the hallway outside my kitchen.  Other than that, the entire building appears to be in excellent structural condition, and all the surrounding houses in the neighborhood look the same from the outside.  

Every 30 years or so, Miyagi has experienced a significant earthquake whose epicenter is in the Miyagi Offshore Area.  Believe it or not, March 11th was not that earthquake (it was on a fault line much further out), so we're now overdue for our next "Miyagi Earthquake."  It may or may not happen, and it's not necessarily going to be the next big disaster (for our prefecture's sake, I hope not), but it's something to keep in mind as a reminder that the danger is real and can happen anytime.  Being prepared is the key to surviving earthquakes.  My prefectural advisor has given us a lot of great information about earthquake preparedness.  After the 4-5 earthquake of 4 am, and knowing that a Miyagi Offshore earthquake could be pending, I'm excited to get my earthquake survival kit of food, water, first-aid kit, etc. put together as soon as possible.  I've also just forwarded along my information to my advisor in the event he needs to contact me to confirm my safety following a significant earthquake.

I hope that readers have found this information relieving and encouraging.  I want people to know Japan and specifically Miyagi is a safe place to live and visit because the more we promote that knowledge by combating the rampant fear that spread via the media, the sooner Miyagi will be able to make a full restoration from the Great East Japan Earthquake.