• September 1, 2007. Scavenger Hunt across Aomori Prefecture
• October 27, 2007. Halloween Party, Hachinohe
• November 21, 2007. Talent show / Anti-Slavery Slave Auction, Hachinohe
• February/March, 2007. Futsal tournament, Aomori
• May 24, 2007. Casino Night, Aomori
• June 21-22, 2007. Trivia Night, Towada
2008 Everest of Apples Tohoku Trivia Quiz Weekend (Oirase Grand Hotel, June 21-22 2007)
Everest of Apples is sending a call to all JETs who are waking from winter hibernation in Tohoku and Hokkaido. It's time to make use of all those random facts that you accumulated from sitting huddled next to your heater watching endless re-runs of The X-Files and bad Jackie Chan movies. Here's your chance to shine!
The Everest of Apples Tohoku Trivia Quiz Weekend is back by popular demand!
Last years venue was so popular, we've cajoled the hotel into letting us stay again. The weekend will kick off on June 21st at Oirase Gorge, Lake Towada, where the three Northern-most prefectures of Honshu meet. For those who are leaving, this is the perfect time to get out and see this beautiful part of the world. For re-contractors, you can meet your Tohoku neighbours, make some friends outside your own little prefecture, and chill out with onsens, fishing, hiking, cycling, and Jesus' grave at your fingertips.
We manage to achieve our goals because of the generous support of JETs across Tohoku and Hokkaido. Just by coming along to the weekend, you'll be making an immediate contribution to the future of the Prajwal community.
SO WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN?
Last year was such a roaring success that we've decided to do it all over again! Once again, we'll be nestled in the Oirase Gorge that feeds into Lake Towada, and it's destined to be bigger and better than ever.
THE HOTEL
Oirase Keiryu Hotel is nestled in the Oirase Gorge and has onsens, tatami guest rooms for 5-6 people (with showers/toilets in each room), and masses of hiking and cycling options in the vicinity. Oirase Gorge and Lake Towada are in a National Park with no supermarkets, so if you want them, you'll need to buy any extra goodies before you arrive (although there's a large gift store at the hotel with limited drinks and snacks for sale). However, past experience suggests that you won't want konbini dross when you can feast on the goodies we'll be preparing! All rooms have their own fridge for storing nijikai drinks.
SATURDAY LUNCH
We have all sorts of taste sensations lined up, and are determined to outdo the feast from last year. The Australian Meat and Livestock Association has very generously come to the party again, and is donating Aussie beef and lamb to the event. For those of you who came last year, you'll remember how good it was to tuck into a juicy steak after months of raw fish and instant ramen! If you're a vegetarian, don't worry, as Tengu Natural Foods is supplying all sorts of amazing goodies for the event.
Once you've stuffed yourself, you can jump in the hotel onsen, go for a stroll through the Gorge, or drive down to the Lake and throw a frisbee, kick a footie, or just snooze in the sun. Bring your fishing line along to catch trout, or hire a mountain bike and ride around the lake (it gets a bit hilly in places!). Hire a Paddle-saurus or Paddle-swan and race your mates to see who has the strongest legs on the lake. Or if you want the extent of your efforts to be purchasing a ticket, go for a cruise around the biggest Caldera Lake in Japan and take in the sights.
See these for a few ideas: Lake Towada Korakukan
SUPPER is at 6pm. Last year we asked the hotel to prepare dinner, but so many people said they preferred our lunch extravaganza that we've decided to look after the evening meal too. If you're not completely satisfied by "non-enkai food" goodness by the end of supper, we'll eat our hats (or your leftovers). We aren't doing nomihodai, but we'll give you a ticket valid for 6 drinks that you can use at the lunch, at supper, or during the quiz. If you run out, you can buy more tickets, or try to convince your mates that you deserve their share. Thanks to the Drink Fairy, we expect to have a healthy supply of your favourite drinks from home – from Sam Adams to Dr. Pepper; if you have special requests, let us know and we'll see if we can get it in.
THE BIG EVENT
If you've ever been to a Pub-Trivia night, you know what it's all about. Teams of 8-10 people (make your own, or we can help you find team mates) show off by knowing the answers to such questions as 'What is the name of the actor whose fictional character is lusted after by Patty and Selma Bouvier on The Simpsons?', 'Why is the word "pound" abbreviated to "lb"?', and 'What is "medomalacuphobia"?'. There'll be games, challenges, and auctions between rounds, with individual prizes. There's a quiz entry fee of 500 yen (included in the cost of the weekend) and first, second and third place will split the collected total. To have the best chance of winning, we recommend having a mix of nationalities in your team! In particular, we really want this to be an event for Japanese as well as JETs, so there will definitely be at least one or two questions in every category that are aimed squarely at people who have grown up in Japan. The quiz itself will be conducted in English, but last years turn-out proved that you didn't need to be able to speak a lot of English to have a blast.
THE NEXT DAY
If you're feeling active, you can hike Oirase stream. You can opt for a 5, 9 or 14 km hike to the lake, and you'll be able to pick up your cars at the end of the hike. Alternatively, if you're hung-over and feeling lazy, you can explore some of the more interesting onsens in the area, and soak in some of the best hot springs in Aomori.
MAKE IT A LONG WEEKEND
If you're coming all the way to Aomori, and want to spend more time exploring the rest of the ken, we can sort you out for accommodation – either floor space at a JETs place, or cheap hotels depending on where you want to go. http://apti.net.pref.aomori.jp/miryoku-en/miryoku.html
SO HOW MUCH IS THIS ALL GOING TO COST?
13,500 yen gets you:
- * A Lunch Extravaganza to satisfy the biggest appetite
- * One night at the very fancy Oirase Keiryu Hotel.
- * A smorgasbord of onsens.
- * Super Supper courtesy of our Everest of Apples Chefs Extraordinaire
- * Buffet breakfast put on by the hotel (let us know if you have special dietary requirements)
- * Entry into the Monster Trivia Quiz.
- * Prizes – individual and team prizes with a total value of about 75,000 yen.
- * Ticket valid for 6 drinks at the BBQ, dinner or during the quiz.
- * 1500 yen contribution to Everest of Apples, with accompanying warm and fuzzies.
- * Free shuttle bus pick up and drop off from Hachinohe station if you're taking the train up to Aomori.
- * The chance to meet people outside of your one-squid town, and enjoy the treasures of a prefecture that claims a flounder as its Prefectural Fish. If you're sick of seeing the same old faces at your prefectural parties, it's time to cross the border and come and see why Aomori was voted "2008 Happiest Prefecture with less than 15 nightclubs".
WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO?
BOOKING:
We need numbers and contact details for you and your teammates (if you have them). Please let us know if you're interested by May 16th. If you have a team (8-10 people), select a team captain and get him/her to email triviaweekend@gmail.com with the following:
- The captain's name
- The names of all teammates
- Your team name
- What prefecture you're coming from.
- Email addresses of the captain and at least one back-up email to someone else on the team.
- The captain's keitai number, and at least one other back-up keitai number to someone else on the team.
- Do you want to room together? (5-6 people per room).
- Do you need accommodation either on Friday night, or Sunday night and beyond?
- If you don't have a team, tell us your nationality so we can match you up with the right balance of people!
PAYMENT:
Captain's will be asked to collect the money from their teammates and do a bank transfer to the Everest of Apples account by May 30th.
CANCELLATION:
There's no penalty for canceling more than one week before the event (i.e. June 13th or before). We'll send the money back to the original transferring account. For cancellations between June 14th and June 17th, we'll deduct 20% of the total. For cancellations between Jun 18th and June 20th, we'll deduct 40%. For cancellations from June 21st onwards, we'll deduct 100%. This is to cover our commitments to the hotel.
ACCESS:
We'll send out information to your captain. There's plenty of parking at the hotel, but if you're planning on coming by train we can arrange for shuttles to come and meet you in Hachinohe (if you're coming from the South), or Aomori (if you're coming from Hokkaido).
Talent show / Anti-Slavery Slave Auction, Hachinohe (Aomori Prefecture, 21 November 2007)
A HUGE thank you to all who came out to the E of A Talent Show/Services Auction last Wednesday night!!!
After all the auction bids are in we will have raised over 30man for Everest of Apples, so way to go Aomori!!!!
I`ll be e-mailing auctionees and bidders individually about the auction and how to furikomi the bids to E of A.
Again- many thanks to all who helped make this event a success!!!!!
-Jody
Everest of Apples Scavenger Hunt (Aomori Prefecture, 1 September 2007)
Coming to you from the five-riverbanks-place, here is the wrap-up of the 1st Everest of Apples Aomori Scavenger Hunt!
Apple Lovers,
Held on September 1st, this challenging event led teams from all over the ken all over the ken! ;P Involving nine teams, this heated competition challenged Aomoricans new and old to find the things worth seeing in Aomori. In an informal, and highly biased poll, everyone was accounted to have a good time (except for maybe the team that got distracted halfway through!). Some ancient Aomori-dwellers even credited the Scavenger Hunt for showing them things about Aomori that they never knew were there!
Now, for the long-awaited final results....... DRUMROLL PLEASE!!
In third place was the delightful Miss Anna Irwin's team, who netted a grand total of 880 points, all without going further north than Hachinohe!
In second place was the intrepid Miss Helen Master's team, who scored a spectacular 920 points in an epic odyssey from Hirosaki to Shichinohe!
And finally, the First Place Team, scoring a variety of Fabulous Prizes, was Miss Becky Koob's team, consisting of Mr. Steven MacWinnie, Miss Becks Behrendt, Miss JoAnn Cho, and Miss Dana Berte! In a high-speed chase around the ken, this team scored the absolutely unbelievable total of 1180 points!
They will be the recipients of said Fabulous Prizes.
Finally, this event raised a wonderful JPN¥32,000 for Everest of Apples, and hopefully helped our fresh-off-the-boat young'uns and our grizzled old-timers to make bonds of friendship which will last them their whole lives!
And that's it, hope everyone enjoyed this year's Aomori Scavenger Hunt!
Teri
Everest of Apples Halloween Party (Hachinohe, 27 October 2007)
Thanks to all of y'all who came out to Hachinohe on Saturday night and partied with us at Oldies! The party was a huge success! Final tallies are being made but right now it looks like the party raised over ¥80,000 for the Prajwal school!
Thanks to those who entered the Halloween Costume Contest - together you guys helped us raise over ¥20,000! For those of you who missed the announcement Saturday Night -
First Place: Karen Retter as Ebi Sushi
Second Place: Brett Kelly as the Hamburglar
Third Place: Mark Beese as the Big Red Eye thingy
Fourth Place: Helen Masters and Stephen Pendlebury as Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter
Fifth Place: Teri Smith as a Wild Thing
Sixth Place: Marti Deyo and guest (sorry, forgot your name!) as a pirate and Spiderman (?) respectively
Seventh Place: Julia as Vampire Woman
I hope you all had a FABULOUS time on Saturday!
-Jody
