Visit to Myoshinji, Taizoin

Instead of Japanese Class today, we visited the Zen temple Myoshinji where we experienced Shodo (Japanese calligraphy), Tea Ceremony, and Zen Cuisine ( Shojin Ryori or Japanese Vegetarian Meal). Obviously, the day started on a good note considering the lack of class aspect. Instead of meeting at Doshisha, the majority of us met at the central Kyoto Station and took the JR train to the temple, picking up more of the Stanford students on the way at the various stops (some homestays are closer to the temple than others). Anyway, the temple grounds themselves were gorgeous and we spent a fair amount of time just walking around before going into one of the buildings and starting our activities.

Our first activity was calligraphy. The Buddhist monk who had given us a brief introduction to the temple gave us another brief set of instructions on how to go about doing calligraphy. The idea is to pick one kanji character and practice it so much that you can draw it beautifully. I've never really had an artist's hand (my mother can attest to this...I struggled in art classes all the way through grade school and high school) so I looked at the exercise as complete fun versus others who started to stress out about their strokes. It was fun to watch people pick really complicated kanji and try to draw them. I just picked simple ones as befit my skill level (haha!). But all in all it was pretty fun.

Following calligraphy, the Buddhist monk gave us more of a detailed tour of the grounds of the temple, showing us to various picturesque places and explaining the motivations and directions behind the landscaping (which is very detailed and well thought out in Zen temples, though considering the strict discipline in the Zen tradition doesn't seem wholly unexpected). After, we were treated to a traditional Japanese vegetarian meal, which included LOTS of tofu (yay!) and sweet miso soup (OMG SO GOOD) and other food items (which were mostly delicious). However, many of the guys in the group found this meal very small and were lucky to find that the Buddhist monks and nuns were happy to give them more helpings of such. Then, at the end of the meal, the Buddhist priest walked us through a traditional tea ceremony and then served us yummy cookies. :)

A Good Day

Instead of having Japanese class today, our Japanese teachers decided to take us to a flea market at Kitano Shrine, not far from Doshisha University. While we speculated that the teachers really wanted to just shop instead of teach today, it was very cool to see the streets of the shrine lined with stalls and shops. It sort of reminded me of last week at the festival I went to with my host mom. However, as this was a flea market, people were definitely engaged in perusing the stalls and haggling stall keepers for lower prices for wanted goods. Nothing really piqued my fancy as I traversed through the crowded walkways and passed by the many stalls of ceramics, yukatas, cell phone charms and other trinkets (Mom, you should be proud I didn't collect things for the sake of collecting items). I was more interested in seeing the inner parts of the shrine, which too was crowded. Kitano Shrine houses the Tenjin kami. The Tenjin kami, prior to its institution as a kami, was a wrathful spirit of a deceased member of the Japanese court in 947. Essentially, he was killed in a political plot and the subsequent disasters that the court withstood were attributed to his angry spirit. As a result, they enshrined him as a kami in order to appease the spirit. The shrine itself is very pretty and the lanterns hanging around the kami worship hall are gorgeous and huge. Nonetheless, it was really hot today and the heat combined with the humidity made it very hard to stay outside. So we ended up busing back to school after an hour and a half.

I hung out at the center for the majority of the afternoon today and did homework. It was nice to be in an air conditioned environment. Don't get me wrong, I really appreciate the heat and humidity, but I'm feeling a little bit under the weather and so I wasn't exactly keen on doing to much today. Then I decided to venture out in the later afternoon and walked to the post office to drop off postcards and back to school, a forty minute round trip total. After, from about 4:30 to 7:00 my friend and I decided to hang out at the Imperial Palace, walking around the gardens and just chilling. A really low-key but totally fun afternoon. :) Sometimes it's just nice to sit and enjoy some one else's company instead of traveling from place to place being super active.

Upon arriving home, I was greeted with dinner, which was "sukiyaki". It's very hard to describe. It's kind of stir fry and egg and rice...anyway it was SO GOOD. I couldn't really get enough of it and I repeatedly told my host mother that it was DELICIOUS. Hopefully we'll be having it again for dinner soon...

Anyway, this was a short post but I felt the need to communicate today's events. As a note to all, I do study despite my lack of reference to academic activity in this blog. Generally I study Sunday-Wednesday (Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday after I get home in the evening; Sunday all day). Thursday - Saturday is generally my weekend. I promise I do study despite my desire to have a mental health quarter...

But all in all, a good day. :)

Japanese Band Run, Kobe, Shakey's, the Bing Trip, and Osaka

Once again, I have failed to update during the week and must now recount the various events that conspired during my week. On a side not before I delve into my adventures, I have a little less than a month left and I can't believe this quarter has gone by so fast. I really really want to stay here for the summer, but as we move closer to the departure date I don't know if it will be possible. :( Even the people that are not staying for internships are leaving a whole week after me. Perhaps I'm less eager to return to the states mainly because I don't want to leave all the new friends I've made (though there is still a large part of me that wants to stay here solely because it's Japan and living in a foreign country for a few months before I have to return to academics would inevitably be amazing). Anyway, tangent over; onto adventures!

We shall begin at this past Tuesday. It began like any other day, I got to school, took a Japanese quiz, survived the rest of class, and had lunch with my friends. Later that evening, a few of my friends and I were meeting my host mother at her parents house and going to a matsuri (a festival). However, that was about six hours away, so I decided, because it was a very warm day, and I had no desire to study, and I needed to go to Kyoto Eki anyway, I would walk to Kyoto Eki and back. I figured it would take me about 90 minutes to get down there from school, 30 minutes to run my errands, and then 90 minutes to get back. And I would still have time to kill if need be. I definitely tired myself out though with the amount of walking combined with the heat. But, on my way back towards school, I decided to stop off at the Shijo district and do some shopping (I am changing my wardrobe, one article of clothing at a time)! Eventually, I headed back to campus and met up with Matt and Yan at around 5:30, though we had another 30 minutes to kill considering Austen didn't get out of class till 6:00. Finally, we headed out and arrived just in time to see the procession doing the final parade around the neighborhood before heading to the shrine. It was super cool as it passed right in front of my host mom's mother's house!! After, we had a short, quick dinner, speaking mostly in Japanese, and then my friends, my host mom, and I walked over to the shrine. When we got there, the pathways into the shrine were lined with little booths of games and trinkets and the streetways were crowded with people. It looked like a scene out of an anime! We weaved our way through the crowd though, and then watched the portable shrines being carried into the complex. There was shouting and chanting and clapping and the boisterousness and happiness of the event so much reminded me of Stanford band run. Austen was happy to hear this comparison as she's on Axe Committee at school. Anywho, the evening was bunches of fun and needless to say, doing homework after was a complete let down and so difficult that I ended up staying very late because my concentration was so completely diverted.

Wednesday I took a trip out to Kobe via the Shinkansen, so it was only forty minutes from Kyoto to Kobe (local trains I believe it would've been two hours...?). While I didn't get to see much of the actual city, and despite the fact that it was raining (so strange considering the day before there was not a cloud in the sky -- climate change is happening!!), I think I would really like Kobe. It's a port city like Nagasaki, but has more of a feel of San Francisco than anything I've experienced here so far. I spent the majority of my time though at one of the universities in the city, a smaller, medical services centered university. In the course of the afternoon I used a lot of Japanese, understood some complicated stuff, and got to know the director of our Stanford SCTI program better. But by the time I got home, I was completely exhausted, and I still had to study for my Religion class midterm. Positive day though.

Thursday, everyone in religion class was madly studying throughout the day for the midterm that afternoon. I ended up having impromptu review sessions with many of my classmates, which gave me a bit of confidence that I knew the material really well. I could only hope that my study guide didn't miss anything that she had covered in class or on the field trips. But when we took the midterm, I think it went well. It was pretty short and only took me about 30-40 minutes in the hour she gave us. After class though, a group of us decided to go to Shakey's on Teramachi street for all you can drink and eat, and needless to stay we had a hilariously fun night.

The next morning though, I got up bright and early to pack for the weekend. We were off on our Bing Trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima. Half awake, and hurriedly, I stuffed too much into my smaller suitcase and jetted out to the subway, going all the way to Kyoto Eki and finding the right Shinkansen platform. The train ride to Hiroshima was fun as we all sat next to each other and joked around. And when we arrived, we had lunch and headed out to the peace museum. Granted the rest of the afternoon had a somber tone to it, as we toured the peace museum and after spoke with an atomic bomb survivor. While it was my second trip to the museum, the exhibits were still emotionally impacting, so I felt a bit out of it till we got onto the ferry for Miyajima. I think everyone else felt similarly too.

Now, Miyajima is rated the most scenic spot in Japan, and trust me, it definitely lives up to its name. The main attraction of Miyajima is Itsukushima Shrine, with its large torii out on the beach. Upon arriving at the island, we took shuttles to the ryokan we were to be staying at for the night. This ryokan was absolutely gorgeous. The rooms were wide and spacious, they had tea waiting for us in the room, there were yukatas provided, it was located right next to the shrine...oh my goodness it was amazing. Of course, we were told that it was highly encouraged for us to attend dinner in our yukattas. Traditionally, you wear yukatas to sleep in and/or lounge around in after you've showered in the evening. And they're basically like cotton robes. Pause. There is no way I would feel comfortable just wandering around in a public setting wearing only a cotton robe. And no way I'm going to our fancy dinner like that. Even if it is "highly encouraged". Instead, I decided to wear my little black dress and new earrings that I got on my shopping trip on Tuesday. And I wasn't the only one who decided to nix that idea. Most of the girls wore western clothing, and all the guys wore yukatas. It was interesting to see the gender divide in outfits. Dinner was delicious too. We had a ten course traditional meal (think Japanese style, so these are pretty SMALL courses), most of which I ate. There were very few things I didn't touch despite not knowing at all what they were. And at the end of the dinner, a few of the singers in our group put on a little bit of an a capella/karaoke performance. Considering dinner ended at 9:00, we felt that it was just not an option to go to bed just yet. So we all decided to head to the shrine in the night, as it's light up until 11:00. The tide was out so we could go down and walk around the torii. As this was the beach, I decided to go without shoes. Smart decision. Many others went with shoes and regreted it the following day. Basically, we spent the evening out on the beach in warm weather. I love it here.

The next morning was also earlier than any of us would have liked. We met at 9:00, went to the shrine, took some group pictures, had a brief discussion, and then were released. A group of us decided to wander around the main part of the island for a bit before grabbing our luggage from the hotel and heading back to the mainland. I got lots of cute little souvenir gifts and some delicious chocolate thing for my host family. Then we headed back to the hotel, picked up our luggage, shuttled to the ferry, ferried back to Hiroshima and found lunch at Hiroshima Eki. I had this wonderful bowl of ramen :) After, we decided to head to Osaka instead of just going back to Kyoto. So we bought our shinkansen tickets and JUST made the train before having to wait for the next one (literally, we ran for the shinkansen). Literally, everyone passed out on the train, we were all so tired. But when we got to Osaka, we put our stuff in lockers and then began wandering the downtown streets of the city. OMG Osaka is so cool. I don't think the six hours we were there were enough to really explore downtown, let alone see the rest of the city.

Anyway, the main purpose of our trip to Osaka was to experience this city's nightlife, as we had heard so much about it. So at around nine, Austen and I went back to the Eki lockers, retrieved our stuff and proceeded to spend the next hour and a half getting ready in the Eki bathroom (pretty jank but we still managed to do it). After a brief photo session, we then met up with the rest of the group on the bridge and proceeded to Club Pure. Needless to say, the evening was so much fun, though I attribute that to the people I was with mainly and not the environment nor the DJ (who was atrocious -- I could've done a waaay better job). Yes, the people definitely made the night and I had so much fun that I just didn't want it to end. But, inevitably, the club closed at 5am, after which we proceeded to get food at McDonald's and then ride the trains home to Kyoto.

I got home by 8:30 am, showered and then conked out till 2:30pm.

What a wonderful week. :)

Shopping, Bonding, Mountain Climbing...and Studying

Apologies for not updating for the entire week! I've been on a whirlwind of activity this past week!

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty normal days, heading to school, managing to stay awake through Japanese. On Tuesday I engaged in retail therapy and contributed to the Japanese economy, though keeping my budget at a reasonable level! I won't bore you with the details of my shopping excursion, but it was nice actually to wander the arcade shopping streets of Teramachi and its parallel partner (whose name escapes me at the moment) by myself, choosing which stores to check out and which to ignore. It's so strange; even if you've been down the street millions of times, you will inevitably see something new each time. Stores open and close at so many different times; it's essentially impossible to see everything at once. This is not taking into consideration all the shops that are hidden on the upper levels of the buildings that line either side of the arcade.

Thursday afternoon, after religion class, a group of us decided to head out to an izakaya. Of course, we had a huge group of both Stanford students and Japanese students, creating confusion and chaos. While the organization of the evening was lacking, the izakaya itself was located just next to the river, giving us a lovely view in the evening. After dining and carousing at the izakaya though we decided to go to karaoke for a bit (which I actually haven't done for many weeks now, so I was in need of a few hours of singing -- or rather shouting -- my lungs out). Of course, the evening had to end earlier than I would've liked as I needed to catch the last subway train home.

Friday felt like Saturday considering I a) had no class, and b) had gone out the night before. But it was still Friday!! In the morning, I attended Church with my host mom and Kenji's school (he goes to a private catholic school), where she introduced me to all her friends. Apparently I didn't get the memo on attire though: all the women wore black, white, or pink (light pastel colors). I was wearing a conservative, Jackie Kennedy style dress. However, it was red (it's a tadashi actually!). Basically, I rolled into this catholic mass with my host mother attracting attention because I am a) a gaijin, b) not a middle aged woman, c) I was wearing red. Win, Saroya, win. I felt like I was wearing a scarlet letter or something throughout the entire hour of the service (which I understood very little of as it was given in entirely Japanese). After the service, when she introduced me to her friends, they did talk as if I understood nothing of what they were saying at all, which was quite amusing. Mostly they were talking about my language ability, where I was from, things I didn't understand, and that I looked like a doll. I've introduced myself so much now, I could probably do it in my sleep now!

After the service, my host mom asked me if I'd like to see Kenji's school. Reminded of my days at a private, single sex school, I allowed my nostalgia to take hold of my senses and I supported the excursion. First though we had to find out if it was okay for us to walk through the school (generally non students and non staff that are of the opposite sex are prohibited from single sex school grounds during session hours -- it was the same at my school). However, after explaining the situation to the receptionist, we found out that the principal was going to give us a tour of the school. My host mother got really excited and nervous and I just got nervous. Remember, this is a single sex school and I'm a gaijin, in a red dress. Literally, everywhere we went I got stared at. Now I feel like I know what the male substitute teachers felt like whenever they came to my high school (haha!). But the school itself was huge! It's a junior and high school combined, numbering around 400-450 students total. Anyway, the tour was neat, I got to see Kenji in the cafeteria (after when he went back with his friends, they were all elbowing him and such...oh boys), and then my host mom and I peaced.

My host mom (who was still reeling from meeting the Principal), dropped me off at home because she had a lunch meeting with her mother and her mother's friends. I changed my clothes, skyped with one of my friends, then headed to school, books and computer and other study materials in tow as I planned to get homework done this afternoon. By the time I arrived, Austen and Matt were starving, so we got lunch first at the cafeteria and then settled down to do some homework. At around 5:30, Yan and Matt (another Matt, we have lots of double names in the program), arrived and we set off to get dinner at this small "Asian fusion" restaurant. It was an "Asian fusion" of thai and chinese and tawianese food...interesting...I ended up ordering "banana french toast" (typical dinner food, I know) -- it was totally delicious! After dinner, we made our way downtown to a British Pub and basically hung out there for the rest of the night. The Hub (the name of the pub) has a really relaxing atmosphere, and is actually a central place for foreigners in Kyoto to go and chill. And they have tasty drinks too.

Austen told me I would regret this expression later...

Saturday, my religion class had a field trip to Mt. Hiei, the historical center of Tendai Buddhism in Japan. We met at 9:00 a.m. (so early...) and took both the subway and local trains to get to our destination. Upon arrival, we ended up taking a cable car to get to the top of the mountain (which, by walking would've been a 5 hour trek...blarg) and then we visited various temple sights and halls. Mt. Hiei is absolutely beautiful and must be visited if one ever goes to Kyoto. The views are spectacular and the Buddhist halls are so neat to visit. I'm really glad though that we had had lecture on Thursday about Tendai Buddhism, so I actually knew something about the structures and layout of the complex.

In the evening, a bunch of us went out on the town again, but only stayed out till three and then taxied back, as we were all pretty exhausted.

Today, I just stayed at the house, basically doing the 'study' part of my abroad experience. I've got my religion class midterm quiz on thursday and, as per usual, bunches of Japanese homework. This Friday though, we go on our Bing trip to Hiroshima and Miyajima, so I'm super excited about that!

A Lovely Sunday

Earlier in the week, Yan invited Nancy, Matt and me to go bamboo picking with him and his host family on Sunday (today). So at around noon, I headed for the subway station, as I figured allocating myself an hour would be sufficient in terms of figuring out which station I needed to take to get to Yan's house. After taking my normal subway route to the Shijo Station, I had to figure out which train (the semi-express, limited express, or local) train would actually stop at the correct stop and not by. However, I remembered a mini lesson Austen had given me about reading the stops each type of train would stop at and managed to figure out which train I needed...just as it pulled out of the station. So I had to wait another cycle. But luckily, once I got on the train, I knew I would eventually make it to my destination. Public transportation puzzle win.

By the time I arrived at the correct station, Matt had already arrived but Nancy was still figuring out the train system. Eventually, she arrived and then Yan and his host father picked us up and drove to their house. While we were driving to the house, I couldn't help wondering what exactly was in store for us. Yan had given us very little information as to what bamboo picking would entail. All I really knew about the situation was what my host mother had told me that very morning: spring was the best season for bamboo picking/eating and that she'd never been bamboo picking. That only made me more curious.

After meeting the entirety of Yan's host family (mom, dad, older brother, older sister, younger brothers), we set out for the bamboo forest that is apparently only five minutes away from the house (cool!). Yan's host father then proceeded to give us plastic bags to put our spoils in and separate boots to wear while we "harvested" the bamboo. The boots were basically rubber boots that reminded me of either rain boots or fire figther boots. Following our change in foot wear, we then were given a brief explanation on how to find and dig up the bamboo. Essentially, the bamboo you want to pick out of the ground are buried. You can identify the possibility of their existence under the ground by fissures in the dirt and their proximity to already sprouted bamboo shoots. Okay, my "earth sense" was a complete failure. I managed to find only two by myself. The rest I was pointed towards: fail. Everything just kind of looked the same to me...Once you find a bamboo shoot to dig up, you take this pick like thing (it kind of looks like the grim reaper's weapon, except with a shorter handle), dig it into the ground next to the bamboo, feel around for the roots, then lift up. It's definitely difficult to do. However, I managed to get five out (two totally by myself!) of the ground. Nancy was really on top of it; she found at least five bamboo shoots. I would post pictures except for the fact that Nancy has my camera due to the fact she had pockets and I didn't...

Anyway, we bamboo harvested for about two hours, then headed back to Yan's house for a BBQ, which involved eating so much yummy food (including tofu!!). I think the most interesting and yummy new food of the evening though was the tempura bamboo with green tea salt as seasoning. IT WAS SO GOOD. I would've actually just been content to eat that all evening. Ultimately, we spent the evening chatting together, and getting to know Yan's host dad, who is absolutely hilarious. Wonderful way to end the weekend.

I don't think I ever would've have believed I would go bamboo picking. Once again, Japan surprises me.

PS. A shout-out to my Mom and Tante: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!! I love you both very much and make sure your hubby's are doing everything you want today! :) And thank you Mom for being amazing and putting up with my emotional troubles and supporting me for the past 20 years of my life. I Love you!

Week in Review

Wednesday was Children's Day ("Kodomo No Hi"). While I had stayed at home all day on Tuesday, I decided I needed to get out of the house for my last day before Golden Week was over and I would have to return to "daily" life (let's be real though, as if anything here is "daily" besides Japanese class...). I planned to leave around 2:30, walk to school, meet up with Nancy and go from there. However, when I went to talk to my host mother about my plans, we eating traditional Children's Day sweets and ended up talking for almost an hour about all sorts of stuff. The sweets were really good too! One of them was a kind of mochi filled with red bean paste (yummy :D ) and the other was just a rice pastry. They were sooo good. :) And it was really fun just to sit and chill with my host mom for a little bit. Then after I made the trek towards school, helped Nancy move herself to her hotel for the night, which was followed up by drinks and then a night on the town. Perfect way to end Golden Week.

Thursday, in Japanese, I found out that my quiz was in fact on Monday instead (lucky me since I literally studied a little bit the night before and a little in the morning. Such a relief, though I ended up having to give an impromptu speech about Golden Week (which was inevitably filled with stumblings and fumblings of vocabulary and grammar). However, class ended a bit early, a pleasant surprise indeed, which resulted in us getting to the cafeteria before the massive hordes of students swarmed to find sustenance in the small hour alloted for lunch between classes. After lunch, while Nancy waited to get the key to her new apartment, I did two things: first, I performed the actions my job as class assistant requires (which meant photocopying handouts for the field trip to Nara on Saturday), and second, I made the epic walk to the post office near school (40-45 min. round trip walking). It was definitely a pleasant walk, though perhaps a bit tiring considering the weather has decided to stay nice and warm (kind of like The Woodlands, Texas in the summer -- though not really hot yet, just warm and humid). Nancy then managed to rope me, Matt, Austen, and Yan into helping her move all her luggage to her new apartment. Of course, this involved finding her apartment in the first place...which took a little while. Luckily though, when we did find it, we realized how close she is to the downtown district! Essentially, this means we now have a place to crash in case we miss the last train so we don't have to stay awake till 5 am...MUAHAHA.

Friday was an interesting day. I headed out for school at about noon, only to walk outside into the POURING rain. I mean...seriously? It was a beautiful, sunny 74 degree day only the day before. What happened? Oddly enough, it wasn't cold rain; it as still high 60s, low 70s. Talk about bipolar to the max. Anyway, my plan to walk to school was foiled because of the significant downpour (and my lack of enthusiasm for getting soaked) so I took the subway to school and hung out in the E40 lab until Austen arrived, upon which we went and got lunch. That afternoon, a small group of us attended a mixer at the Doshisha Women's College from 4-6:30. Now, there were only 10-14 of us and like...60 of them. Personally, I was surprised at the small number of Stanford students that decided to attend, since most of them make a big deal about wanting to meet and make actual japanese friends and use their Japanese. Also, we have a lot of guys on our trip. You'd think that a mixer at a WOMEN'S college would attract them. Apparently not. Their loss; just meant I had more opportunities to make friends and bond with the girls. Which I did. If I had been rusty with my Japanese before the mixer, I was definitely back up to speed after. I talked to soo soo many girls, and exchanged phone numbers with so many of them! Now I have Japanese friends (even if I can't tell them apart in my phonebook...)! It was hilarious though, talking to all the other Stanford students after the mixer. They were all overwhelmed by the massive amount of girls. Most of them felt like they were being attacked. To me, having gone to a girls' school for nine years of my life, felt right at home. Anyway, that was definitely a win.

Today, somehow I managed to drag myself out of bed at eight o'clock so I could catch the nine o'clock subway and meet up with my Religion class for our field trip to Nara. Nara is about an hour away from Kyoto, and is one of the central locations for Buddhism in Japan. At Nara, the Todaji Temple houses the DaiButsu, literally the Great Buddha. It's absolutely magnificent to see. So, Professor Ludvik took us to see the Todaji Temple as well as the large Shinto Shrine also located in the same general area. Lots of walking, lots of pictures, lots of fun. And Professor Ludvik literally seems to know EVERYTHING. Her lectures only got more and more interesting throughout the day, as she would stop us to talk about a certain structure, or the significance of a symbol etc. Side note about Nara: deer walk around freely. Now, that may sound cute, the idea that Nara is a giant petting zoo. Deer are a sacred animal and basically the city of Nara is a deer sanctuary. However, THESE DEER WILL EAT YOU. And when I say eat you, I mean they will pester you constantly if you have food, or appear to have food, and will nibble at you to intimidate you into giving them food. Last time I was at the temple, in high school, a dear ate my map. No joke. After we walked around the temple for a while, Professor Ludvik took us to the Nara Museum, which was showcasing Buddhist artifacts from Japan and China. Soon after, I headed home and decided to stay in for the evening. I spent a lot of time though talking with my host mother though. :)

A bodhisattva statue next to the Great Buddha

I found this sign of the mascot of Nara (a small buddha with antlers...KAWAII!!) -- had to pose with him :)

The Great Buddha (the picture really doesn't do it justice)

I was trying to pose like the Nio (the temple guardian)

Me Feeding the Deer....

Golden Week: The Epic Side-Quest!

I am now currently back in Kyoto, at my host family's, warm and content (though tired despite having slept approximately eight hours last night). Golden Week doesn't end till tomorrow evening, so I've got two days to relax before classes start. However, I only have one class on Thursday (Religion is canceled due to our field trip on Saturday) and I have no classes on Friday...basically, life is great. But now, as promised, with lots of pretty pictures, I shall divulge the events of the past four days in exquisite detail (hopefully).

Day 1: "A Caucus-Race and a Long Tale"

After getting to sleep finally around two a.m. only six hours later I awoke once more to finish packing, double check I had everything I would need, and eat breakfast (which consisted of leftover KFC, yogurt, and tea). My shinkansen left for Kyushu at 10:15 a.m. on the dot (trains are very punctual here in Japan -- you can't be late if you want to make the train because IT WILL LEAVE without you), so my host mother drove me and my weighty suitcase over to the subway station and I managed to just make the train pulling out of the station, settling in on the mostly deserted car, playing with my new phone, waiting for stop eleven, Kyoto Station. About 20-25 minutes later, the subway pulled into Kyoto Eki, which is this HUGE transport hub. Here, you can access all the Kyoto subway lines, local trains in Kyoto prefecture, and the Shinkansen JR lines, which take you all around Japan. And there are tons of food and shopping establishments within the station. Basically it's a huge mall too. Anyway, so I made it to the station at 9:55, texting Ben that I had just arrived. After finding each other through the massive amounts of people roaming the station, we headed over to the Shinkansen gates only to discover Ben had left our JR passes at home (though he had our train tickets). So he jumped on a subway and headed back to his host family's home to get them. An hour later, new set of tickets, we were on our way once again for Fukuoka/Hakkata. A note about the Shinkansen (the bullet train): they are amazingly fast and amazingly comfortable. You have a lovely amount of leg room (I know my Mother would love that), the aisles are comfortable wide, and the train ride is fairly smooth. And I just love watching countryside, so in essence, I was ecstatic on the first train ride, despite my tired disposition. One transfer and five hours later, we were in Hakkata/Fukuoka (I'm not sure which it is; Japanese people seem to recognize Hakkata more than Fukuoka, but every American guidebook I have calls the city Fukuoka -- not helpful at all). Fukuoka is a big, metropolitan city, but it doesn't have the same feel that Kyoto or any other Japanese cities I have been to, do. Eventually, we found the ryokan (Japanese style inn) we would be staying at for the next two nights, checked in, and decided to find food.

(Futons!)

So Fukuoka is known for its ramen. Obviously, this means we must try some and thus be the judge of it ourselves (being ramen connoisseur -- FALSE, I just wanted some delicious noodles). Luckily, our hotel was very close to the station, which appeared to be the hub of all sorts of activity, including the location of this HUGE mall called "Canal City" (English fail...). On floor number whatever (this mall is actually nine or ten floors high, including three different area/buildings...), there was this lovely place called "Ramen Stadium". Oh man, I was so excited.

So the basic premise of Ramen Stadium is that they each week they rotate different restaurants through the 6 different booths they have on the floor so you can try something new each time. Eventually, after perusing all the available options, decided on Fukuoka style ramen, which was absolutely delicious. I would love to go back again and eat and eat and eat...but the possible carb weight gain is obviously preventing me from doing so. Perfectly situated across from Ramen Stadium was a HUGE arcade (now that I think about it, I'm seeing a pattern of HUGE in my entry...I guess it may be safe to assume that the Japanese enjoy spectacle just like Americans, except maybe to even a bigger extent). Since it's on my bucket list, I decided I'd give Pachinko a go...and was sorely disappointed. I'm not sure how people find Pachinko to be interesting enough to play for hours on end. Seriously. All you do is pull a lever and basically hope that the small metallic balls will fall in the right directions and get you money. I mean...I know it's gambling but it didn't seem interesting at all. Or maybe I just chose a really boring machine.

(Flattering, I know)

After the stint in the arcade, we wandered around Canal City, and stumbled upon "Canal Circus", which was this outside circus show they had in the mall. Definitely not Cirque de Soleil. It was just about evening when we realized we needed something to do. Ben had talked about going to see the world's second largest ferris wheel, so I indulged him by agreeing to go see it. Of course, it cost us an expensive taxi ride, as the ferris wheel was twenty minutes away in Marinoa City (a smaller district of Fukuoka). Upon arrival, we discovered the ferris wheel was closed! Apparently, after some investigation, we learned, or rather Ben learned and then translated for me, that the ferris wheel had been sold to Taiwan and so it was in the process of being shipped...? I don't really know but instead we went on the smaller wheel, which I was just as happy to go on.

(Smaller Wheel)

While waiting for the bus to arrive to take us back to downtown (cause there was no way we were paying for an expensive taxi ride back), we wandered the strip mall, which included us eating dessert crepes (I got this DELICIOUS mochi crepe...heaven never tasted so good), playing Mario Kart at the arcade (I beat Ben both times we played, thus asserting my gaming superiority :D I am that good), and wandering through this random store called "Village Vanguard", which dubbed itself a "book store" but was far from it as it had everything the planet could offer in way of consumer goods. It was an interesting, chaotic store...I couldn't buy anything though because there was just too much stuff to look at I couldn't compute it all. So I refrained and got Starbucks instead to warm myself while we waited outside in the cold.

After the LONGEST bus ride of our lives (seriously, we must have taken the bus route that went in the opposite direction of the one we wanted to go), we eventually came back to Fukuoka Station and walked back to the ryokan. And crashed. I was so tired that literally all I did when we got back was shower and sleep.

Day 2: To Hell(s) and Back

This morning we had a train from Fukuoka to Beppu at around 10:00am (the exact time escapes me at the moment), but we were well early to the Station and so decided to grab breakfast at one of the bakeries in the station. Okay, Japanese people, from what I've observed this past week especially, love bread. Especially white bread and other baked goods. Fukuoka Station I think had about four bakeries within its confines. There is a HIGH demand for bread foodstuffs. And they are all delicious!! Anyway, past the bread craze, we took the train to Beppu and arrived to find beautiful, sunny, warm weather. After securing all day bus passes, we boarded the bus for the "nine hells of Beppu", which are in actuality nine geothermal hotspots. It's interesting to note that it was pretty quiet in terms of the amount of tourists around. The Golden Week Crowds hadn't happened upon Beppu yet, so I considered us lucky. Beppu is considered a touristy spot by Japanese because of the vast amount of hot springs it has in addition to the nine hells. It's kind of like...the Palm Springs of Japan, a resort town to go to for a day or two to get away from everyday life. But it was definitely a blessing that we arrived before the big craze, though we did run into a few tourist groups while we toured the hells.

("White Pond Hell" because of the calcium deposits)

("Shaven Head Hell" because apparently the bubbles look like the shaven heads of Buddhist monks...?)

(Umi Jigoku - "Sea Hell" because the water is so blue)

So there are nine hells in all, and we ventured to all of them. At "Devil's Mountain Hell" there is also a small zoo, if it can even be called that. It was basically of crocodiles. The reasoning is that the steams of this certain hell create conditions favorable to crocodile breeding. Not sure if I should be creeped out or not...But at "Mountain Hell" (yes there is a separate Mountain Hell to Devil's Mountain Hell) there was a small zoo, containing flamingos, peacocks (reminded me of home), a hippo and an African elephant (which actually saddened me a little; I don't think that it was necessary to have an African elephant on display in a small Japanese town. It just seems sad...). I think i've decided that zoos are just sad places, unless they're animal preserves, where supposedly the animals are being well taken care of/protected from the dangers of extinction or something akin to that. I mean, is it absolutely necessary to cage up animals just to observe them unless there is an ulterior motive of protection? I don't know, that's just my opinion though.

The final hell is the Tatsumaki Jigoku (Spout Hell); it's basically a geyser that goes off every 30-40 minutes (Mother Nature is so routine sometimes...). Anyway, the wait was forever, considering we got there just about ten minutes after the last eruption. But when it spouted, it was pretty cool to see.

At one of the other hells, they had hot water from the hell waiting and ready for you to drink. I'm assuming it had healing/healthy properties, otherwise I can't imagine why exactly you would voluntarily drink scalding, sulphur-y water. Of course, I tried it. I didn't really taste much of anything, it was just really hot. Ben said the sulphur taste was super strong, and couldn't finish his little cupful. Whimp.

While I was walking through the one of many of the souvenir shops at the hells, I stumbled upon a special towel that the shopkeeper was making a point of selling. I won't tell you exactly what is so special about it, but needless to say, I bought two of them, one for me, one for a friend, because the hilarity that ensued was just too much to pass up.

Beppu is famous for not only its hells and hot springs, but also its sex industry. The Beppu Hihokan, the city's sex museum, has been known throughout Japan since its establishment in the 1980s. Naturally, we decided we would check it out after visiting all nine of the hells. I will leave it at that.

(Sign outside of the Museum depicting various Hindu Gods -- I'm not entirely sure why there were so many Hindu statues, but okay)

Between traveling to Beppu, touring the nine hells, seeing the sex museum, and generally wandering around the city, we ended up missing lunch, and so were starving at around five o'clock. Returning to the station, Ben managed to get us tickets back to Fukuoka on an earlier Shinkansen train, and then we went in search of dinner. We ended up at this small restaurant not far from the station, and had lots of yummy food, none of which I can remember the names of. The interesting part of this restaurant was that, instead of a menu, you would pick what you wanted from the storefront display, and they would make it for you, though you could request additional items that were posted on the walls of the restaurant. All in all, it was definitely a cozy little restaurant, delicious despite the fact that we witnessed the cooking of an octopus, which did make my skin crawl and stomach turn just a bit. Oh the wonders of Japanese cuisine. Following our culinary discovery, we jumped on the Beppu train and headed back for the ryokan for the rest of the night, whereupon I was quick to shower and snuggle in my futon.

Oh the ways in which my Mother has influenced me...

Day 3: Beauty By the Sea

This morning we had a train to Nagasaki at 8:05 a.m. SO EARLY. We had to wake up at 6:45 so that we could get ready, check out, get to the station, find breakfast, and board the train. It was so so so early, I wanted to not wake up. But train trouble would only cause unnecessary stress, so I got up and figured I could sleep on the train. Which I happily did so. The train ride was only about two hours, but I know I was in and out for a good hour. Part of me wanted to stay awake so I could see the pretty countryside, but I reasoned with myself that I would just watch on the ride back the next day. When we pulled into the station and got off the train, I was amazed by the Nagasaki station. I immediately felt good vibes despite the crowdedness of the station and the business of the city itself. However, this was to be expected as it was the Saturday of Golden Week, and Nagasaki is a port city. Anyway, we took a streetcar/tram to the hostel, which was tucked away in one of the major hills of the city. The hostel keepers welcomed us happily, and the check in was smooth enough. They showed us the futons, the kitchen, the shower, and all the necessary things provided for us during our one night stay. The staff themselves made me want to stay for an extra day just so that we could chat a little more. But Nagasaki itself would make me want to stay moreso after I'd explored the city.

Our first stop, after tramming downtown and following various tourist signs, was Glover Park. After taking not one, but two elevators all the way to the top of this mountain/hill, we got off and could see the entire skyline of the city. It was magnificent, seriously breathtaking.

The Glover Garden and Residence are beautiful, obvious considering the amount of attention they pay to one of the only remaining original Western residences in the city. However, because of its location, the house and its surroundings have been nicknamed the "Madame Butterfly" house, after Puccini's Opera. Anyway, the home and the park are both a delight to walk through, and I could've spent many an hour just gazing out at the skyline.

There were different levels to the Grover Garden. As you descended, you would see different complexes in the Grover space as well as other preserved, Western homes. I believe the park attracts over two million visitors a year. You can totally see why!

Apparently, it is also a popular spot for event hostings. Actually, while we were there, they were setting up a wedding ceremony/reception area. Interesting.

(If you want to, you can pay to dress up in old western style clothes and then walk around the gardens and take "authentic" old style pictures of yourself...)

In Glover Garden there are 2 heart shaped stones. This is one of them. :)

After Glover Garden, we ambled down a touristy busy street, passing side glances at the vendors. Apparently, Ben wanted to find a certain stall that sold a certain type of Castella (which Nagasaki is known for). Eventually, we found it, and to my delight, they were giving out free samples! Of course I had to try one of each flavor: original, cheese (my FAV), green tea (also good), chocolate (blah), melon (?), and another unidentifiable one. Castella, if you don't know, is like pound cake...except the portuguese version of it. Why Nagasaki is known for Castella is beyond me; must have to do with the fact that it is a port city. Anyway, Ben was apparently 'underimpressed' while I just wanted to have more: ignorance is bliss. Or maybe I'm just happy at it all. That's probably it and I'm totally fine with that explanation.

Following our adventure to find yummy sweets, we took a round about way and found Nagasaki's Confucian Temple and Museum of Chinese History. I was less interested in the Museum and more interested in the temple to be truthful. There aren't any Confucian temples in Kyoto, that I know of, and I wanted to see how a Chinese temple would fit in the middle of a vast Japanese city. I was hardly disappointed with the temple; quite the opposite actually. It may be small, but it is breathtaking with its vibrant colors, especially when surrounded by houses of drab colors. Its orange walls just stand out as you walk towards it. And its inner courtyards leave nothing to be desired.

I'm actually planning on bringing these pictures to Professor Ludvik and showing her and asking her how much she knows about Confucian temples and their existence here in Japan. When we went, there was hardly anyone around, so I wonder if it's more of a "tourist" attraction or a place that is frequented by locals. Anyway, it's definitely a place I will remember in my travels.

By this time, we were both starving for lunch (as it was around 2:30 and we hadn't eaten since...9:00ish?) and decided to hit up a Japanese family style restaurant that overlooked seaside park. Our waitress sat us down at a table next to the CUTEST toddler every. I'm not one to feel maternal feelings towards young children (I have yet to grow into those instinctual feelings, as my mother can well attest to) but this girl was SO cute! She had these dark, wide eyes and these huge cherub cheeks. I would've taken a picture of her but I realize that would be a) not okay, b) creepy, so I refrained from doing so (besides supressing the impulse to snatch her and make off with her and adopt her as my own). Aside from that, the restaurant itself wasn't so impressive, just its view, which induced us to go visit the Seaside garden. I went and sat by the edge, overlooking the bay, taking in the wonderful weather while side glancing at a group of Japanese teenagers trying to break dance or something like hip hop (sadly they were off rhythm).

After the park, Ben decided that we needed to see the Nagasaki Science Museum. I wasn't about to rain on his parade so I consented to accompanying him on this venture, though it was entirely in another section of the city. We got there around 4:30 and the Museum closed at five. Like a little kid, he proceeded to run about the museum, trying all the buttons and levers he could possibly find. I amused myself by contemplating how early I could get to sleep that evening while glancing at the solar system exhibit (as I do have a soft spot for astronomy) despite its being written in a combination of hiragana, katakana, and kanji. We left when it closed and then headed back to the hotel, picking up a light dinner on the way, agreeing to just watch a movie and then sleep. Which I was all too happy to do, though I was sad that I was going to be leaving Nagasaki in the morning.

Day 4: Back to the Mainland

Another day, another early train to catch: 8:05 to be exact. So we checked out of the hostel, took the streetcar down to the station, and went in search of breakfast. Ben wanted donuts and I...didn't. Instead, I went to Tully's coffee and got delicious hot chocolate and a breakfast sandwich (perhaps the second time here in my trip to Japan where I've had something akin to American breakfast -- the Japanese conception of breakfast is very different from the Western perspective, but that is for another time to wonder about and discuss). I was prepared for this train ride. Cozy with my hot chocolate, I watched the Kyushu countryside fly by as our Shinkansen headed back towards Fukuoka/Hakkata. Seriously, watching the Japanese landscape fly by was so calming. I can't believe people live out here in this lush nature, always surrounded by beauty. I could go on and on about how amazing it was and how much I love just watching, but I won't bore you with the extreme details of my mind. In a nutshell, Kyushu the island is magnificent and makes me want to ride trains all day and just see the world pass by.

In Hakkata we transfered trains and headed towards Okayama, which is back on the mainland of Japan, the island known as Honshu. Two hours later, we arrived in Okayama station, ready to conquer yet another city on our trip. After a brief stint in orienting ourselves correctly (two different maps had north in different directions; although I quickly pointed out that one of them was the bus schedule and therefore was the lesser reliable of the two in terms of cardinal direction), we found our hotel, only to discover that Ben had made a reservation only for the next night. We were without a hotel. But, because the Japanese culture is so acomodating and polite and kind, the receptionist at the desk found us a hotel room (OVER GOLDEN WEEK) at a hotel down the street. I mean...now that's service for you. Like actually. I don't believe I would ever experience that in America or anywhere else, where the receptionist will call up various hotels in the immediate vicinity and find a hotel room for the night. So we ventured a few blocks over and checked in rather seamlessly into the twin double room and contemplated what to do, as it was already 3:00 in the afternoon.

After flipping through various guidebooks and pamphlets, we headed out to Koraku-en Garden, ranked one of the top three gardens in all of Japan. The least to say we were not disappointed at all. The garden itself is expansive and beautiful, situated near the Okayama Castle. Because of our timing (i.e. Golden Week), the garden was busy busy. But that didn't stop me from combing every inch of it! Unfortunately, the weather did that; it was so very hot. I totally wished I had worn a skirt or something instead of jeans. But like I said, the gardens were so beautiful to wander around. I'm really glad we decided to go and see them despite the lateness in the afternoon and the heat. We actually did venture towards Castle Okayama, but arrived just as it was closing. I don't feel too bad about not visiting though since even my guidebook said it was overrated.

Okayama Castle in the Background

It was about 5:30 when we left the gardens and made the unsuccessful trip towards Okayama Castle. Having not had lunch (again...ARG), we decided to grab food immediately. Or rather I decided we needed dinner ASAP. So, the first ramen shop we stopped by I rushed in. I don't know what I ordered, but it was spicy and it was good. Oddly enough, it was ramen without any soup/sauce to go with it. You added soy sauce to it as needed (I'm not really sure I tasted much of a difference...) but it did the trick. After we really just wandered around for a bit, headed back to the hotel and slept. And so was Day 4.

Day 5: "Oh the Places You'll Go"

Our final leg of the journey. We wanted to be awake at 8:00, but I didn't roll out of bed till 8:15, meaning we didn't leave till 9:00. Not that we had a set schedule for today. This day perhaps was the most flexible of all our days as it required riding local trains, which don't require a reservation, versus the Shinkansen, which do generally. The goal was to visit three cities in the Okayama Prefecture: Kurashiki, Takahashi, and Iwakura. Following a stop at MacDonald's for breakfast (by my decision, don't judge, MacDonald's is so much classier here in Japan than it is in the States -- true story!), we went to the station, figured out which line to take, then with our trusty JR passes, boarded the train and headed off for Kurashiki.

Kurashiki: Step Back into Time...

Kurashiki is a small town in the Okayama Prefecture famous for its historical district, the Bikan Historical District. Kurashiki is called "Heartland Kurashiki" amongst the locals of the Okayama Prefecture. Literally, two stops before Kurashiki, a whole bunch of people got onto the semi-empty train, pushing it to maximum capacity, and then when we arrived at Kurashiki, everyone and their brother got off. Welcome to Golden Week. I think I would like Kurashiki when it's not as crowded, but it was pretty nonetheless.

As we were leaving, we happened upon the Golden Week parade. Essentially, a whole bunch of groups walk down the street performing. I swear there were like, eight junior high school bands that came through (the majority, if not all the members being female -- kind of strange). My favorite middle school band was the band that pretended to be very frigid and strict, but then busted out and started running to the crowds, high-fiving random people and then playing their program. I believe they were the group that played "Under the Sea", thus automatically becoming my favorite. There was another junior high school that played the Jetsons theme song, which was pretty cool to hear. Then the first high school group came out, and they had this platform for four taiko drummers. That was super legit. There was also a University group that had super cool choreography to go with their band program. There were also a few children's baton twirling groups (these were all singularly girls) and then the Kurashiki Police band performed as well (I didn't even know that Police bands existed). All in all, the uniforms for these groups were FABULOUS. I briefly contemplated nabbing one of their hats, but then I thought about how upset the kid would be and thus I was deterred from beginning a life of crime.

Takahashi: "The Queen's Croquet Ground"

From Kurashiki, we boarded the local train to Takahashi, where we visited Bitchu Matsuyama Castle. Pause. This is the castle with the highest elevation in Japan from sea level. After the taxi dropped us off at the entrance gate at the bottom of the mountain, we began the steep climb upward. I'm pretty sure the climb itself took us an hour, but there were so many view tops to overlook the town from that it was totally worth it. And I kind of wanted to do a hike in a pretty moutain side. Apparently, the ground surrounding the castle are all part of a national park. While we didn't have enough time to go wandering through the various nature paths, we definitely saw a great deal of wilderness.

When we finally made it to the top, it felt so intense. The amount of stairs and the steepness of the hill made it feel like I'd just stairmastered at level 100,000 for the last hour. However, I'm still waiting for my thighs to shrink to the size of Barbie's. But anyway, we made it up to the castle, and after about ten minutes rest, we went inside. It wasn't exactly what you'd be hoping for. Castles in Japan are a bit more sparse in comparison to those in Europe. But it was worth it, if all for the hike.

We hiked back down after looking out from the castle, grabbed the taxi, and then headed back to the station, stopping by a vending machine to grab a refreshment.

Iwakura: "The Pool of Tears"

Our last and final stop for the day was Iwakura. Originally, we thought we were going to get off at Nimi, but it turned out the Iwakura-do (Iwakura Caverns) had their own town. When we rolled into Iwakura, it was literally quiet. Quiet like a ghost town. We were definitely in the boondocks of the Okayama prefecture. There was no one around, it was cool. And Iwakura is so so pretty. I know I've said that millions of times in this same entry about other places, but Iwakura is surrounded by cliffs, and basically situated in the middle of nature. As we walked to the caves, which were only ten minutes on foot from the station, we passed the Police center, where there was a sign saying the police officer on duty was out on patrol. They have one police officer. That is how tiny this town is. Perfect. No sarcasm intended.

As we got to the caves, we started to see more people and other tourists. But it wasn't crowded at all, which I was hoping for. I knew that this would be one of my favorite parts of the trip on the whole. I've got a little bit of an earth science geek in me (I come from a family of petroleum engineers...it's in my blood). Okay, these caves are still active, and by active I mean stalagtites are still forming etc. It was so so cool! But I think the best part were the names the translator's gave to the different stalagtite formations (e.g. Lunar Rocket). There were many english fails in the guidebook. Needless to say, I enjoyed the cave immensely, and it also meant I was out of the heat for a little while.

After, as we exited the cave, Ben commented that he really wanted to go swimming in the river around the caves. I didn't actually think he was serious, but in the next moment he was out in the river swimming. I retreated to the souvenir shop none to say the least as everyone that was there was watching the gaijin swim out to the waterfall. Eventually though, we headed back to the station, passing the police station where the officer was still out on patrol, and waited for the train to come. On the way back, we decided instead of spending money to stay at a hotel overnight and then just train back the next day (neither of us really had any more energy for sightseeing), we would just try and get back to Kyoto on a late Shinkansen. Lucky us, there were still seats available. In a delicious race against time, we rushed back to the hotel (getting lost on the way), got our bags, hurried back to the station, got yummy udon for lunch/dinner, purchased ogiyame for the host fam, and then hop, skipped and jumped onto the train. Eventually, two hours, one Shinkansen ride, then down the subway line, I arrived at my stop and found my host mother waiting for me. And home we went.

Thus end the adventures of the side quest of Golden Week 2010.

I would like to note that this has basically taken me all day to write, though with plenty of distractions and outings in between. Today I slept till nine but didn't rise till ten. However, everyone else slept till about noon, where a half an hour later, Maki, Kenji and I headed out to McDonald's to pick up lunch for everyone. For dinner we then had Chinese take out and sat out on the porch in the backyard. My Japanese is a little bit rusty after four days, but I'm falling back into my pattern of use. Maki, Okaasan and I went to the grocery store together and had some bonding time then. I learned some more words and got myself out of the house again. Then I had a little bit of bonding time with Grandpa later this evening as he came over to me as I was writing this entry and showed me maps of Kyushu and Honshu and talked about the areas that I'd visited. All in all it was a relaxing day.

One more day of "vacation" but let's be real...being in Japan is being on vacation. :)