My New Favorite Japanese Word, and Some Stuff about Skiing

Viking. That’s my new favorite word in Japanese. It’s borrowed from English and they pronounce it bikingu (because there is no “v” sound in Japanese). Meaning? Buffet, because you take whatever you want. On the ski trip with my school this past weekend people kept saying the meals were bikingu. I kept thinking, “biking? Why are they biking? Because the line rotates?” I didn’t get it until Hazuki explained it to me at English club on Thursday. That sparked a whole conversation about English words adopted into Japanese that English-speaking people don’t use. A steering wheel is a handle, pronounced handulu. (By the way, Japanese only has five vowels. A as in hot, I as in scream, U as in food, E as in egg, and O as in clone.) Diet means eating well and exercise. Candy means everything except chocolate, which is just choco. These words may have been borrowed from English but they’re certainly Japanese. Like the rest of their culture, they’ve adopted something from somewhere else but changed it to fit their own wants and needs. Pretty much everything traditional came from China. Buddhism, rice, tea... In the modern age stuff like transistors and cars are from America but the Japanese are better known for them, or at least make them better. Now Japan is moving away from exporting goods and more into exporting entertainment. Manga comics are extremely popular and have heavy influences from the American comic books that never really caught on with the general population. Amazing place, Japan.

I went on a ski trip with my school this past weekend. By this point I should know not to expect anything because my expectations are always wrong. But I was sure I knew what a ski trip was going to be like. After all, how different can skiing be in Japanese? A lot different it turns out. The first thing I assumed was that we were taking a ski trip because most people knew how to ski. In fact, very few people has ever skied before, all except 9 had ever snowboarded. This was a trip to learn how to do snow sports. I was really impressed with this revelation. I think it’s very cool that the school gives kids a chance to experience skiing, an activity typically reserved for people with money. The entire first grade went, all 320 odd kids. That’s a lot of student to bring to a hotel for three days. We had eight coach buses. I played lots of Uno on the way there. Funny thing, they didn’t know what Uno meant.

We got to the hotel and I was amazed by the efficiency. Had we had a ski trip at Evanston, I imagine it would have gone something like this: Buses leave an hour late. We get to the hotel two hours late. Boots and boards are in short supply. Someone isn’t booked into a room. Police are called to break up the party at night and someone gets suspended for bringing cigarettes/alcohol/weed. Here it was very different. Every group had a leader (a hancho) to talk to the teachers at daily meetings and relay information tot the group. Our rooms had snow clothes in the closet. Each person was given snow pants, a ski jacket, gloves, a hat, and goggles. The snowboarders were also given helmets. I brought all my own stuff because I assumed I needed it. I ended up wearing my own helmet because it was better. But everyone was required to wear the given coat, they all matched. All the students had bright yellow jackets. It made it easier to see them on the hill and keep track of everyone. All the teachers had red and blue jackets, the ski instructors red, the snowboard instructors red and black.

After changing we all filled downstairs the 5 flights (we were forbidden from using the elevator) to get our boots. They were kept in big lockers with one assigned to each room. They were labeled of course, as was everything. Then after changing into our boots and depositing the slippers (no shoes in the hotel, they have what seemed to be thousands of identical blue slippers instead. These fit most Japanese people and have never, ever fit me) in giant bins on the way out. Outside we lined up by ski class, different from our room assignments, which were by classes in school. Everyone was in ski school because this was a learning trip. There were 40 instructors with an average of 8 kids a group. They must have borrowed people and equipment from other resorts nearby. No one else was on the mountain. Just a sea of yellow with spots of red. But before we hit the slopes we had an opening ceremony of course. Nothing in Japan can begin without a ceremony to mark the occasion. All of us sat in the snow behind signs with our group number printed on them. They Japanese love numbering things. Americans will often divide things group A, B… but the Japanese always to it by number. For this trip I was class 7, room 42, group 21. And we were often just referred to by number. And 21 had special significance; it meant that I was a boy, a snowboarder, and pretty good. The groups were all divided by sex.

The opening ceremony was a pretty standard set up. The students sat, teachers stood. The principal gave a speech about how we are very honored to be here. Then the head of the ski school gave a speech about how the teachers are committed to teaching the best they can. Then a student got up, thanked the ski school guy, and promised that we would learn as best as we knew how. Then things could begin. The first day was uber-boring. The qualification for being in the best snowboarding class appeared to be, have you ever touched a snowboard before? We worked on sliding down the hill, first toe side, then heel side. I practiced 360s. We didn’t even get to turns until the second day. I got very good at 360s. But my teacher started picking it up quickly. Everyone in my group caught on fast. Eventually she’d just say, let’s meet up there, and then we’d race. There was no terrain park but I found some good jumps by the side of the main run. We got an hour of free time on the second say, then the morning of the third before back on the buses home. Oh, we had a closing ceremony of course.