im-anchan

[im-anchan]

Quirks and Charms of Kochi Prefecture, Japan

This post is a bit of a throw back, to when the JET Program dropped me in Middle-of-Nowhere, Japan, back in 2018.

I’ll be honest in saying that I didn’t expect much besides rice fields and my single convenience store. I braced myself for the quiet countryside life and having an abundance of free time. And in a lot of ways Kochi Prefecture is a bit quiet and isolated.

But I definitely didn’t expect Middle-of-Nowhere, Japan to have so much personality. Kochi is like that weird uncle that nobody in your family wants to talk about, but then you meet him and he actually turns out to be a pretty cool (but quirky) guy. And Uncle Kochi did a few things in his youth that he is proud of. VERY proud of. And don’t you forget it.

1. Ryoma Sakamoto

Wait, who’s Ryoma Sakamoto? said no-one in Kochi ever. Silly foreigner, let me educate you.

Ryoma Sakamoto was an important political figure who helped overthrow the Tokugawa Shogunate. Then, he got assassinated in a very dramatic way which was acted out for me by a very enthusiastic Japanese man. This is usually the furthest any actual historical explanation by a Kochi native ever goes, until they start explaining all the various places I can buy a Ryoma squishy keychain or see one of the many Ryoma statues. Oh yeah, and there’s also giant billboards with Ryoma’s face, a Ryoma museum, Ryoma plushies and more. Even the airport is called Kochi Ryoma Airport, the only airport in Japan named after a person.

2. Katsuo Tataki

Katsuo tataki, or seared bonito, is Kochi’s specialty, which I am often reminded of by Kochi people at seemingly random moments. Despite this, katsuo tataki is not in the least bit over-hyped. The bonito (a type of tuna) is raw on the inside with a delicious crust of seared fish on the outside. It’s served with ginger, green onions and tataki sauce. I don’t know what tataki sauce is exactly, but I could care less because it’s amazing.

You can get katsuo tataki in restaurants and supermarkets all over Kochi, but the most delicious is probably at the Hirome Market in Kochi City. I could honestly eat it every day. Dammit, I’m hungry now.

3. The Best Mascot in Japan

Speaking of katsuo (bonito), it’s time to talk about the best mascot in Japan, Katsuo Ningen. Here’s where the Kochi pride seems to falter a bit, which I don’t understand in the least. Katsuo Ningen is an ingenious concept for a prefectural mascot, translating directly to Bonito Human. Bonito Human is the real, official mascot for the prefecture of Kochi, and while many Kochi people seem to be ashamed of Bonito Human I am absolutely in love with it.

Once, I showed this picture to my 5th grade class. As the students hung their heads in shame, the teacher began apologizing that I ended up in the prefecture with such a strange mascot. “No!” I protested, “I love katsuo ningen!” I pulled out my katsuo ningen key chain and showed it to the class. It was the kind that you can squish and the eyes pop out. My 5th grade class hasn’t looked at me the same since.

4. Kochi Hospitality

But the best parts of Kochi aren’t its ‘famous’ figures and specialties. Since getting here I’ve been shown nothing but the warmth of Kochi hospitality (except for certain situations with my office, namely this one). At restaurants, just by striking up a conversation with the owners I’ve been sent home with boxes of fresh vegetables and snacks. My friend is close with a couple who owns a ramen restaurant, and when we went to eat there we were suddenly swarmed with free karaage (Japanese fried chicken), coffee, ice cream, and snacks until we thought we might explode. When my parents came to visit, a (pretty drunk) man ordered them rounds of beer and fried chicken and chattering endlessly about how he’s so glad that foreigners have come all the way to Kochi (my parents don’t speak a word of Japanese). One supermarket employee treats me like her long-lost friend every time I end up in her check-out line, excitedly asking me how I’ve been recently and teaching me random words in Japanese. My eikaiwa (adult English class) students invite me and the other American on adventures and one student even made me a katsuo ningen figure out of a cork.

All over Japan people are friendly, but everyone in Kochi seems more open and genuine than anyone I’ve met anywhere else. I spent a year there before moving to Tokyo in 2019, but to this day it was one of the most eventful and adventurous years of my life. Anyone who has a chance to get off the beaten track on their trip to Japan NEEDS to visit this underrated area.

[im-anchan]

The realities of an international relationship 🧑🏻‍❤️‍👩🏻

My partner Kaz and I have an international relationship, he being from Japan and I from the U.S. Despite of course having challenges, I think it's pretty romantic that we can say our relationship has transcended language and borders.

Our differences means that our relationship is never boring, and we're always learning new things about our childhoods, culture, and values that comes from being raised in different countries.

If you can navigate all the communication challenges, it's all fun and adventure, that is, until the dreaded v-word steps into the picture.

You guessed it, visas. The ultimate cock-blockers of any form of romanticism in international relationships.

Kaz and I have been talking about marriage for awhile now, and we've finally decided to make it a reality for next year after our Working Holiday ends here in New Zealand.

As great as it would be to launch into our giddy honeymoon phase and skip into the sunset in a white wedding dress, we were slam-dunked back into reality once we started looking into the process for the K-1 Fiance Visa for the U.S.

Now if you've ever seen TLC's 90 Day Fiance, you know the visa works (and also may have a hint as to why the U.S. makes the visa process such a pain in the ass). Long story short, after going through painstaking paperwork and interviews, we will have to get married 90 days after Kaz arrives in the U.S.

With the initial paperwork and interview process taking "5-10 months" according to the immigration website, it's not exactly a predictable timeline for planning any kind of wedding within that 3-month window.

Throughout the process, we're also required to provide substantial evidence that our relationship is legitimate and give detailed information about our engagement, future plans and other circumstances, as well as give evidence that I can financially support my so-called "alien fiance". Once we have been deemed a worthy match by the U.S. government, he is finally allowed into the country for a marriage within their very short timeline.

While I understand the need for this process to an extent, what is meant to be one of the most exciting and romantic phases of a relationship being fully dictated by the U.S. government is definitely killing the romantic vibes, to say the least.

On the other hand, the fact that both of us have to deal with hours of paperwork, thousands of dollars, invasive interviews, and government red tape, and still want to marry each other, is pretty romantic in its own way 😊💞

[im-anchan]

Casual Greetings 👽

Greetings, internet. My name is Andrea and this is attempt #374 at starting a personal blog, due to the fact that I run and hide to my introvert safe haven after any small speck of attention. So this time we're keeping it -casual-. I'll reflect on all the weird, exciting, sometimes mundane things that have happened the past few years, and if anyone happens to want to stop by, pull up a chair and say hi, all are welcome.

So what's there for me to write about? Well, I'm more of a 'figure it as I go' kind of gal, so we'll just have to wait and see.

A little bit about me, I've been living somewhat of a nomadic lifestyle for the past 5-6 years, and consider myself a professional job-hopper. Any living situation or job longer than 10 months is a heavy commitment in my book. The only thing I'm fully committed to is my partner Kaz, who continues to be my favorite souvenir from my time in Japan.

Where in the world are we now? After leaving Japan and spending a year together in Australia, we've hopped across the pond and are now in month 6 of a working holiday in New Zealand.

While constant moving, visa applications, and job instability has been *exciting*, we're not the youthful travelers we once were and our long-term break from nomadism is in the works for next year, when we'll be moving to my homeland of the United States for the foreseeable future.

In the meantime, we're enjoying the beautiful nature and friendly people of New Zealand in the quirky capital city of Wellington.

Anyways, this blog will be mostly personal stories, but feel free to hop along if you like, and I promise I won't run away this time. And in case you were wondering - that is in fact me in my icon - but that is a story for another time 🐟