Forums > Introductions > Hajimemashite--Greetings from Japan
Login/Join to ParticipateMember
32 posts
Location: Wakayama-ken, USA
Hi, everyone. My name is Ches and I'm a 25-yr-old English teacher living and working in Japan. I teach Junior High School and Elementary kids during the day and dig the variously peaceful and fast-paced nihon-scape at night and on weekends. For those curious, Wakayama is in southern Japan, and I live about an hour outside of Osaka, near the border of Nara prefecture.
I first saw another pal of mine, Blair, spin poi back in April. He showed me a couple of basic things that night, and I proved to be a quick study. About 90 minutes after picking them up, I had the Butterfly and the Weave pretty solidly and so Blair siad I should try it with fire. Ever since I've been hooked. The first picture in my gallery is from that night.
I got a pair of tennis-balls-on-string practice poi from my friend Amber and frantically bonked myself with them for several months. I sporadically borrowed Amber's fire poi to spin at an occasional party, but really didn't have a lot of chance to go full on with fire. A couple of weeks ago, I made an order here on Home of Poi, got some fire stuff for myself and and new set for Amber.
For the last three nights I have been spinning on a soccer field down by the river that runs near my apartment. You can see me spinning from the bridge over the river and even all the way up on the mountains across the way. The Japanese people who walk or bicycle past are usually too embarrassed to stop and stare, but they all rubberneck in a very satisfying fashion. Last night, I got my pal Travis to take some pictures of me spinning. You can check them out in my gallery.
In the non-fire performance arena, I'm a literature and music freak and also am a reasonably accomplished writer and singer myself. I love languages, although I'm not particularly talented at them (I have only rudimentary Spanish and still mangle Japanese frequently). I wish I was more outdoorsy, but I never seem to have the time I want for camping, hiking, etc. I love my friends and family, and generally enjoy life. Glad to meet you all.
Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!
"To my delight, I discovered that poi are amazing movement exploration tools. They are guides. They are teachers. They are like Yoda, only smaller and on strings." --Nick Woolsey, also known as Meenik
Super Gidg!!!!
8,506 posts
Location: Portland Oregon USA
Gidg bounces in on her pogo stick ... boing ... boing ... boing ...
Welcome to HoP Ches. It sounds like you're jumping in with both feet. Isn't spinning a blast.
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is NOT.
Proud member of the HoP DPS.
Sanity is a highly overrated state of mind.
I'm normal ... it's everyone else that's crazy.
Gidg
.:*distracted by shiny things*:.
3,777 posts
Location: brizvegas, Australia
hi!! welcome to hop!! i have friends who just got back from teaching english there for three years!! they had a blast! and my ex is heading over there in febuary to teach too!! he's a firetwirler too, so i may have to pick your brain for some advice at some later date, if that's okay! (he has no idea where he's going yet, but he'll be wanting to buy fuel & find a place to twirl & other twirlers too!!
)
do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and good to eat!
if at first you do succeed, try not to look too astonished!
smile! :grin: it confuses people!
Member
32 posts
Location: Wakayama-ken, USA
No problem getting basic kerosene here, but for anything more exotic, there may be hassles. Japanese people are fascinated by out-of-the-ordinary things (and firespinning certainly qualifies) but when doing anything official or that affects their own lives, they tend to be highly conservative and obstinate. Foreigners puchasing uncommon flamables is one of those suspicious things that will get hard looks and "I'm sorry, but it's impossible"-type answers.
As for a spinning scene, it's pretty limited to non-Japanese people around here. My pal Amber and I know one other guy, Todd, who lives a couple hours away on train, but that's it in this area. I keep teaching people as fast as they're able to learn basics, and have directed dozens of people to HoP. Beyond that, for any other specifics you need answers for, my powers are at your disposal.
"To my delight, I discovered that poi are amazing movement exploration tools. They are guides. They are teachers. They are like Yoda, only smaller and on strings." --Nick Woolsey, also known as Meenik
now available in "advanced"
6,086 posts
Location: Cornwall, United Kingdom
Hello and welcome to HoP!!!
My state of mind is not yours to define!
There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,276 posts
Location: Oxfordshire/Wiltshire, United Kingdom
Hello!!! Welcome to HOP! xxx
tHeReS gOoD aNd EvIl iN EaCh InDiViDuAl fIrE, iDeNtIfIeS nEeDs AnD fEeDs OuR dEsIrEs.
Insert Champagne Here
13,215 posts
Location: without class distinction, Australia
Hajimemashite! Shizuoka-ken ni ikukoto ga aru? watashi wa 10nensei no toki ni, 3shuukan Shizuoka-ken ni host family to tomatta. Totemmo tanoshikatta! shoorai, mada nihon ni ikitai!
Sorry, couldn't help myself! bad, bad Rougie
i would have changed ***** to phallus, and claire to petey Petey
Rougie: but that's what I'm doing here
Arnwyn: what letting me adjust myself in your room?..don't you dare quote that on HoP...
Still wiggling
5,967 posts
Location: Belfast, Northern Ireland (UK)
Wooohooo. That's impressive.
I'd love to be fluent in another language. English gets so dull (oh, that and it'd be nice to speak to other people in their own language
)Anyways, welcome to HoP towery... incidentally, there's another person posting in Social Discussion about firedancers in Japan - but I have a sneaking suspicion they're miles away from you!
Take care xx
Getting to the other side 
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland
Hello!!!
give me six/eight months and i'll be spinning with you in japan
Love is the law.
Member
32 posts
Location: Wakayama-ken, USA
Rogue Dragon,
Shizuoka-ken ni iku koto nain desu ga, boku no tomodachi asoko ni sundeiru. Wakayama-ken niwa inaka desu kedo mo, shizuka de, omoshirokute, kirei desu. Osaka wa chikakute, benri da kara soko e yoku iku kaimono suru tame ni. Ii yo! (^_^)
Moshi itsuka nihon ni kitara, email o shite kudasai. towery@hotmail.com
Jya, mata ne? Yoroshiku.
--------------
ado-p,
Any idea where you'll be going? Staying on any kind of permanent basis or just passing through?
"To my delight, I discovered that poi are amazing movement exploration tools. They are guides. They are teachers. They are like Yoda, only smaller and on strings." --Nick Woolsey, also known as Meenik
Pirate Ninja
3,882 posts
Location: Galway/Ireland
I hope to stay for at least a year, still slacking big time on my japanese lessons though....
Love is the law.
Mistress of Pink...Multicoloured
6,140 posts
Location: Over There, United Kingdom
Hello
Do you like the colour pink?
Never pick up a duck in a dungeon...
Pirate Pixie Crew Captain
8,428 posts
Location: Wales
Welcome to HoP
Feed me Chocolate!!! Feed me NOW!
66 posts
Location: Barnstaple, Devon, UK
Welcome and make yourself at home
If hope can grow from dirt like me.....It can be done.
Member
32 posts
Location: Wakayama-ken, USA
I don't mean to sound harsh or rude, but I actually loathe the color pink. In fact, while considering this question, I looked around the apartment and the only pink things in my life are half of one book cover and one tupperware lid. I'm sure that other people like pink, and I wish them well with it--in fact they can have my share of pink in the world--but I generally want nothing to do with that hue. Sorry. Nothing personal.
"To my delight, I discovered that poi are amazing movement exploration tools. They are guides. They are teachers. They are like Yoda, only smaller and on strings." --Nick Woolsey, also known as Meenik
Pirate Pixie Crew Captain
8,428 posts
Location: Wales
Uh-Oh! Someone cover Pink...?'s eyes. Breathe deeply Pink...? slowly in and out, in and out...... thats the way. It will all be fine.
Feed me Chocolate!!! Feed me NOW!
playing the days away
7,263 posts
Location: The Middle lands, United Kingdom
Let's relight this forum 
Mistress of Pink...Multicoloured
6,140 posts
Location: Over There, United Kingdom
Lol thanks Skulduggery
Thats ok, i know that not everyone likes the colour.
What about Green or Purple?
Never pick up a duck in a dungeon...
Member
32 posts
Location: Wakayama-ken, USA
I don't really do purple either...although some dark purples are okay. Nothing in the violet range, though. I dig bright green in a very broad sense--like the way one might dig breathing. I need it in my life, need to see trees and grass and growing things, but I don't usually think about it unless I'm not getting enough of it. Thankfully, I live between two strings of mountains along a river valley and therefore have that green ever-present here. Other greens, like olive or some darker greens, I have a hard time seeing because of being green-brown and red-green colorblind. I'm one of the people that they add blue to the traffic lights for. :P
When you get down to it, I mostly dig a color scheme of blue-black-gray-white, accented by silver and natural wood tones--mostly because I can see these colors really well and they're not loud like yellow or orange. I'm a pretty low-key person usually, and jacked-up jumpy colors set me on edge.
Well, I'm sure that's more about my color preferences than anyone really wanted to know, but there it is...
"To my delight, I discovered that poi are amazing movement exploration tools. They are guides. They are teachers. They are like Yoda, only smaller and on strings." --Nick Woolsey, also known as Meenik
Mistress of Pink...Multicoloured
6,140 posts
Location: Over There, United Kingdom
Interesting colour preferances. Normally on here i find that people quite like the bright colours.
I used to be a dark colour person, black, dark purple, dark blue etc.. (and pink though - always liked pink). Then i started to like bright colours. They make me feel happy and think of summer and such.
You are lucky to live in a place surrounded by green - is it a pretty place? I imagine it to be, between moutains and such. Although i am a water person myself. I love the sea.
Never pick up a duck in a dungeon...
Insert Champagne Here
13,215 posts
Location: without class distinction, Australia
My family has hosted Japanese students since I was 11 (I'm now 18), and their eyes always popped out of their heads at the sight of the flat, boring expanse of land in Australia...I went to Japan and realised why! mountains, mountains, more more mountains, trees, greenery EVERYWHERE!
i would have changed ***** to phallus, and claire to petey Petey
Rougie: but that's what I'm doing here
Arnwyn: what letting me adjust myself in your room?..don't you dare quote that on HoP...
Super Gidg!!!!
8,506 posts
Location: Portland Oregon USA
Actually that sounds like my home. Green green everywhere no matter what the season. And I love the mountains.
Growing old is mandatory; growing up is NOT.
Proud member of the HoP DPS.
Sanity is a highly overrated state of mind.
I'm normal ... it's everyone else that's crazy.
Gidg
Member
32 posts
Location: Wakayama-ken, USA
Pink, Rogue Dragon, and Gidg:
If you wanna see where I live (scenery-wise, at least) I just put some pictures in my gallery that might interest you. And Pink, if you like the sea, you'd love exactly half of Japan--all they have here is mountains and ocean and then concrete and skyscrapers. Wakayama is part of the Kii Peninsula, which means we've got lots of coast, so if you're looking for pretty, swing out this direction.
"To my delight, I discovered that poi are amazing movement exploration tools. They are guides. They are teachers. They are like Yoda, only smaller and on strings." --Nick Woolsey, also known as Meenik
Mistress of Pink...Multicoloured
6,140 posts
Location: Over There, United Kingdom
Wow..they are some amazing pictures/scenery!
Never pick up a duck in a dungeon...
Insert Champagne Here
13,215 posts
Location: without class distinction, Australia
*gets all nostalgic*
i would have changed ***** to phallus, and claire to petey Petey
Rougie: but that's what I'm doing here
Arnwyn: what letting me adjust myself in your room?..don't you dare quote that on HoP...
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