Deja Vu on 12th April

Today reminded me of two days in Japan--the first and last days of my visit to Kyoto in September, on my way out of the country.

On the first day, I travelled an hour by train to Osaka in order to pick up some lost property. The previous day I had left a plastic bag containing my favourite black shawl and some Sakamoto Ryouma socks on the JR bus from Kochi. I had called JR up and managed to explain what I was looking for and where I had left it; they instructed me to visit the office at Osaka station the following day. When I arrived, however, my bag wasn't there; it had accidentally gone to Okayama. Thinking back now, perhaps the lost property staff were just curious to meet this shawl-and-historical-figure-sock-losing foreigner? In any case, I spent the morning going to Osaka, walking around the station for a while, and then going back to Kyoto, and that's why today reminds me of it. I left my hostel at 10AM checkout, dropped my backpack off in a storage locker at a downtown train station, and then, realizing that I had left my (new, pink!) umbrella in the hostel, went back to get it. Rather shorter than Kyoto to Osaka, and more successful, too.

On the last day in Kyoto, in spite of heavy rain I decided to go to a forested area in the north of the city. I arrived there, lightly damp, and got my feet totally soaked walking only a little ways into the forest. I glimpsed the big red tori gate of the temple in the forest, my actual goal. But the muddiness of the ground between me and the gate, and the fact that it was still raining and I wouldn't be able to take my camera out at all, lead me to give up at this point and take the next bus back to my hostel. I wanted to get to Tokyo by evening, and I didn't have much energy or enough time to do anything really good--and besides, it was raining--so I ended up heading straight to the shinkansen. It was a bit like that today. Because of my 6pm flight back to Sydney (which I will be boarding in not too long) I couldn't really do anything much, and a serious case of New Shoes Syndrome discouraged me from climing up to the Mount Coot-Tha lookout, so I spent the mid-day floating around the city on ferries and reading in parks, and then caught an earlier-than-necessary train to the airport.

I always feel bad when I waste time like this while travelling, but I guess it can't be helped.

Wedding at Meiji Temple in Tokyo

A huge crowd of tourists watched this wedding procession. I felt bad for the couple at first, but then I realized that if they hadn't wanted a huge audience of foreigners, they wouldn't have gotten married at a huge, famous temple in Yoyogi Park on a Sunday.

Stuff I'm Going to Miss About Japan

1. the food
2. the challenge of learning a new language
3. all of the awesome moss
4. a confirmed source of compliments--anyone I speak to in Japanese
5. the food
6. the people
7. train travel (although I might get some of that in Australia too??)
8. the food
9. speaking Japanese (it's been kindof fun lately)
10. lots of stuff I haven't thought about missing yet

What is this "Takarazuka"?

What did I go to buy tickets for three mornings in a row? What did I sit on the ground in line for three hours for this morning and, indeed, finally get to see? What is really awesome?

Takarazuka!

To quote the all-knowing Wikipedia, it is "a Japanese all-female musical theater ... Women play both male and female roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions - most of their plays are Western-style musicals...." I generally enjoy a good musical but am not a huge fan, but Takarazuka is just extra awesome. Even though I didn't understand much, it was super fun to watch. It's just so over the top, and the women who play men are super good at it. Today I saw The Scarlett Pimpernel, and the Pimpernel himself, in particular, was fabulous fabulous. Even though the haze of Japanese, the character's personality came through really well.

I really enjoyed the rad alto voices (the male parts). Also, there was a women-playing-men-playing-women scene, in the noble theatrical tradition of Kabuki and Shakespeare, and I love that kind of double-bend stuff.

Anyway, now I have a huge crush on Aran Kei, the star of Pimpernel. (The soloist at the beginning of this medley/preview video.)



かっこいい！！！！！！！

My Last Week in Japan

Sunday, September 21

Farewell party, Kochi style--that means old men I've only met once or twice getting drunk and trying to speak in English. It also means really heartfelt and charming goodbyes from my English students and friends. It was really too short!


Monday, September 22

Lunch with a new acquaintance I wish I'd had more time to get to know, and her daughter (my age) who again, I wish I knew better! Plus awesome karaoke with my favourite band, The Nudy's--the three of them are my closest friends from this summer. Then LIGHTNINGFAST cleaning of my room (passes the landlady's inspection with no room to spare) and off to Ino with Ayumi's mom, my patron saint of moving.

Tuesday, September 23

I caught an early bus from Kochi to Osaka, and from there a train to Kyoto, where I arrived around 4:00. Around then, I realized I'd left a bag of souvenirs and my favourite shawl on the bus. I called the bus company and arranged to pick it up the next morning in Osaka. Then I washed my clothes, took a stroll around Gion and fell asleep in my treacherously man-filled hostel room (see previous entries).

Wednesday, September 24

I went early, around 8, to Kiyomizu Temple (I beat the school tour rush, so it was perfect timing) and then headed to Osaka for my lost Sakamoto Ryoma socks. Unfortunately, when I got there I found the bag had gone to Okayama instead. Oops. I got it sent to Kyoto for the next morning... now almost as well travelled as I am! Then, back in Kyoto, I went to Tofuku Temple (no relation to tofu) and then Fushumi Inari Shrine, where I had an interesting long chat with a Japanese photographer. (I'll get to the pictures soon.)

Thursday, September 25

I met up with Sachiko, the aforementioned daughter of an acquaintance, who is going to art school in Kyoto, learning to make rad traditional sculptures. We visited the flea market at Kitano Tenmangu shrine, Nijo Castle, Sanjusangendo, and the Kyoto Tower. Phew. We also went shopping in Shijo Kawaramachi (book! English book!) and ate parfaits with dubiously flavoured ice cream (did they forget the sugar in this?! we are the entire scoop trying to figure out why it was so wrong) in the mall above Kyoto Station.

Friday, September 26

I got soaked trying to go to a shrine in a FOREST in a RAINSTORM. Without an umbrella. I'll have to go there next time, because I gave up after walking only a few metres. Then I dried off over coffee in Gion, where I saw but didn't photograph two maiko. I checked out of the man hostel, and went to see Ryoanji again (I saw it on my last trip to Kyoto and was really inspired). I saw a maiko entering the temple as I left, and was almosssst tempted to follow with flashing camera, but decided not to be rude. Then I picked up my bags from the hostel and hopped on a luxuriously fast shinkansen to Tokyo.... where I promptly got lost in Shinjuku station and only barely stumbled into my appointed hostel.

Saturday, September 27

In the morning, I went to try to buy Takarazuka tickets, but no such luck. So I went back to the hostel and scouted some interesting museums. I went to the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, which took longer than I expected. Then I went to Harajuku, where I saw Meiji Shrine (and a Japanese wedding procession--lucky!) and then wandered around in teen-y Harajuku eating crepe and buying cute socks. In the evening I tried to go to a bar I'd heard was good, but got lost and went to the wrong place, and then when I finally found the right one, it was too packed and I was too tired to wait to get in--so much for being able to stay out late in Shinjuku!


Sunday, September 28

In the morning, I went to try to buy Takarazuka tickets, but no such luck. (Sound familiar? I'm going to try once more tomorrow!) Then I went to Tsukiji, where the fish market was closed on account of it being Sunday, but where I ate tasty salmon roe. Then I met a friend, and we had coffee and checked out the swords in the Tokyo National Museum.

Which brings me back here, staying boringly in the hostel because my FEET ARE KILLING ME. One more day in Tokyo--hopefully including a Takarazuka show--and then I'll head to a hostel in Narita town tomorrow so I don't have to get up TOO early to catch the flight on Tuesday.

Pictures soon, but oh my god there are sooooooo many.

Displaced Dragonfly

More pictures! In early September I took a day trip to Nakamura, about 3 hours by train, to check out the dragonfly park there. It was rad.

My friend and I took a walk with the founder of the dragonfly park. He very specifically took us to the spot where this little guy lives, and pointed out that it's a Taiwanese species. It lives in Japan now because of global warming, which has made the climate much as it formerly was 300 degrees of latitude south of Shikoku.

Find the Heron Game

Still catching up with photos from... eep, August! Today I've posted Ritsurin Park, where I stopped on my way home from Hiroshima.

Funny, 'cause the home I was heading for is no longer! I moved out on Monday, and departed Kochi yesterday. I'm in Kyoto now until the 26th, and then Tokyo until flying to Sydney on the 30th.

(For anyone who still remembers my original plan, and is thinking "Dude, why is she still in Japan??" -- I changed it up. I'm leaving Japan September 30, as previously mentioned, and will be in Australia until March 9th, stop in Singapore for three days, and then back to Canada in the Vancouver-Victoria area on March 12.)

This is just to say...

I'm in Kyoto. I picked the wrong hostel. It's full of men.

Hiroshima Trip Photos

What you lookin' at?

In Nara, there are many deer and many stone lanterns.

More photos on flickr.

In a Hurry in Gion

Phew. My last batch of Kyoto photos are finally up!

Still to come: Nara, Hiroshima, and all of the stuff I've done in September.

Only 9 more days in Kochi!

Noise In Japan

Public noise is very different in Japan. While at a concert or festival, you can expect the huge audience to sit in near-absolute quiet during a performance, on the other hand as you walk down the street you may encounter a wide variety of loudspeakers.

There's political noises--from the scary right-wing propaganda vans to the Communist Party, out on a street corner bright and early in the morning with big banners, politely introducing themselves. "Hello! We are So-and-so, So-and-so, and So-and so from the Communist Party of Japan! Excuse us for disturbing you! .... message I don't understand... thank you for listening!" *profuse bowing*

(Personally, I like the communists better, even if they DON'T blast wind band oom-pah music with Japanese lyrics of presumably but not necessarily political content, like the black vans I've heard lately.)

There are also recycling trucks a few times a week that drive around with a megaphone announcing what they're collecting. "Bring out your dead!" (Well, I assume not... but who knows, really?) Similarly, advertising cars blast what sound basically like normal radio ads from megaphones on their rooves.

Finally, there's town music. Kochi City doesn't have music, but Ino town, where I stayed in May, does. At I think 17:00, loudspeakers sprinkled liberally throughout the area (really, I was in a fairly rural place, not the centre of town or anything) play a nice pleasant midi tune, I suppose to let everyone know it's time to go home from work now! or something like that. It's kindof cute.

And THEN there are the incessant cicadas, but I guess that's not EXACTLY the same...

Sunday Market

Today I went to the Sunday Market, and this is what I bought! I love the cheap fruit and vegetables, especially since fruit is WAY WAY scary expensive in grocery stores here.

The Sunday Market is about 1km long. I find the best strategy is to walk for one or two blocks and check out the prices, and then go back and buy the best deals, because not all farmers are equal...

For example today I got too excited and bought a really expensive pear when I could have had TWO pears instead. Sigh...

Also, the katsuo tataki (katsuo is a fish, bonito in English--tataki is a method of preparing something where you sear its outside and leave its inside raw) comes from the permanent Hirome Market, which is near but not the same as the Sunday market.

PS. Click on the picture, and it will become LARGE.

Japanese Word of the Day

はちきん (hachikin)

This is a word in Tosa-ben, the local dialect in Kochi prefecture. The etymology is "hachi," eight, and "kin," gold... apparently that leads to "eight golden balls" (I don't know where the balls come from). It means a strong woman.

What is the deal with women having to have balls to be strong? It bugs me. I don't want any male anatomy, thank you very much.



I taught English for about 7 hours today and now my voice is cracking and I turned down a chance to go dancing with new cool acquaintances because I am sooooo tired. Too bad.

Nara to Kochi to Hiroshima to Kochi

I've covered a lot of ground in the last two weeks--about 40 hours in a train, in fact.

After spending two days in Kyoto (5:27-14:38), I met up with my friend Akari in Nara (12:30-13:15). We went to see Kasuga Taisha (Kasuga Shrine), which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I actually enjoyed the walk there most, 'cause it's lined in beautiful stone lanterns.

Then we went to the BIGGEST WOODEN BUILDING IN THE WORLD, Todai-ji (Todai Temple) which houses a 14.98 metre tall statue of the Buddha, which is remarkably enough NOT the biggest one in the world--or even the biggest in Japan. That was pretty cool.

Then I got to hang out with Akari, see the tea her family grows, drink homemade umeshu (plum liqueur that is one of my favourite things in the world), go out for rotating sushi, and THEN hop another train back to Kochi (15:45-23:00, because I sprung for an express).

Last Saturday I spent the day teaching, but still spent an hour on the train going to and from the class I teach for an English school in Noichi (12:19-12:48, 16:09-16:40).

Then on Sunday I headed to Hiroshima (10:45 - 19:00). I had time that evening to meet a random Italian girl at the hostel, and we went with her Japanese friend for Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki, whichi I failed to take a photo of.

I spent half of the next day at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and half trying to go to art museums that turned out to be closed because it was a Monday, finding time also to eat another Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki without taking a picture of it either.

On Tuesday I left Hiroshima and headed to Takamatsu (9:25-13:30) on the way to Kochi. In Takamatsu, I spent a few rainy hours exploring Ritsurin Park, which is really beautiful. I didn't eat Takamatsu's famous Sanuki udon (it has since been suggested to me that I go back and do so). Then I headed home to Kochi (16:48-22:04), in time to prepare for a meeting the next day in Noichi (13:45-14:19).

And I still have ONE DAY of unlimited train travel left on my ticket. I can go anywhere in Japan, but since I must use local trains only and am limited to one day, I am planning to stay on Shikoku. Where should I go?

Trivial Things I Like About Living In Japan Episode 3

The rain. (It's heavy. It makes a good sound. It's a breath of fresh air in the muggy heat of July and August. It feels good when you stick your head out over the edge of the balcony and get a little bit wet.)

Kyoto Continued

On my second day in Kyoto, I started with the Kyoto Museum for World Peace at Ritsumeikan University. It's really well done and I learned a lot about WWII from a Japanese perspective. It was interesting to me that though the exhibit was really extensive, there was very little information about the Holocaust. I feel like if I were in a Canadian peace museum, the focus would be on the Holocaust over the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Confirm/deny?

One of the roles of peace museums in Japan is to talk publically about Japan's crimes in the past, at this exhibit did a very good job. Accompanied by a history of peace activism in Japan, it really felt like history portrayed in a balanced way. I wish we had more of that in Canada--a version of our history that portrays the bad alongside the good, falsely minimizing neither.

Anyway after that, I did stereotypical tourist things. I went to Kinkakuji, the temple with the golden pavilion (seriously, it's shiny!), and Ginkakuji, the temple with the silver one. (Unfortunately the silver one is a) not actually silver and b) under restoration right now... but it was find becuase there was TONS OF AWESOME MOSS there!) The two are particularly popular. Then I spent an hour or so wandering along the "Path of Philosophy," along the Biwa Canal, from Ginkakuji to Gion, the geisha district.

I was lucky enough to catch sight of an apprentice geisha, actually. I had been wandering around in the touristy area nearby for a while, and finally I stumbled onto the street where all of the tea houses actually are. I was getting my bearings and looking at all of the awesome old buildings, when a Japanese man spoke to me over my shoulder in accented English: "Look! Over there. A maiko." I looked, and indeed, even had time to snap a photo. (Although I felt kindof bad--the poor girl was being photographed by I don't know how many eager foreigners. I guess that's part of the job these days.)

Then I stopped at an Irish pub for G&T and headed back to the hostel. (I read somewhere about the Irish pub in Gion, and just didn't think my visit would be complete without going there.)

The next day, I woke up early to partake of the hostel breakfast (not so great as it turns out) and then went to see a beautiful and very old rock garden at Ryoanji Temple--laid out in the 1400s. After Kinkakuji and Ginkakuji, it was my third UNESCO World Heritage Site of the trip. Then I hopped on a train to Nara!

And I'll tell the rest of the story when I get back from my SECOND trip, to Hiroshima! (I'm leaving tomorrow morning!)

Oooooops, I did it again....

So this morning I literally fell onto the train at exactly 5:27 AM, having run from a taxi just in time to catch it as the bell rang announcing its departure... I travelled on slow local trains for a long long time, eating only plain riceballs that I had forgotten in my rush to add salt to, and wearing only one sock... (no, seriously!)

and then about 9 hours later, I arrived in Kyoto only to find that the place I was supposed to stay, in a Buddhist temple, was in fact housing someone else. I wasn't that surprised--last night I realized that I had failed to SEND the email confirming my stay. But I had a hard time finding out. I sent an email when I realized--no reply. I showed up to check-in time and rang the bell--no reply. Finally I phoned. I heard the phone ring, and someone picked up. They really must have heard me ring. I guess not answering the bell means "no vacancy"? In any case, oops. I brought one backup hostel phone number and a sketched map.

And now here I am, having found the BEST HOSTEL I HAVE EVER BEEN IN, probably much better off. (Hence the unexpected intarweb access.) I did get lost on the way and end up in another taxi, but even counting the travel it's still cheaper here, and they also cook breakfast AND I have a four-person dorm to myself AND the girl at the check-in desk has a cute smile! (This is the first time for me to use my Hostelling International membership [thanks Aunt!] and I must say, I don't know if all HI hostels are like this, but I will certainly endeavor to use it more in future, and if you are ever in Kyoto, Utano Youth Hostel is rad.)

Today I dropped by the Emperor's palace for a quick visit, wandered around in downtown Kyoto for a while trying to find Gion (I think I got almost there, but I was hungry and it was getting late so I turned around and gave up), and had an interesting conversation with a sushi chef. Now that I'm not in Tosa-ben land, suddenly　ｍｙlanguage skills have skyrocketed!

Certainly this is my favourite disaster so far, considering that I have actually saved money because of it!

Yosakoi!!

This weekend in Kochi is the Yosakoi Festival. That means fabulous costumes, music, and amazing dancing!

Yesterday I stopped to watch on my way home from a teaching job, and randomly met a lone travelling German girl. So instead of watching for a few minutes and then making my way home, I watched with her until the end and then went out dancing. Then we met up today again, and spent the day swimming in the sea, looking at wax figures of samurai, watching Yosakoi, drinking shochu (hey, you gotta keep hydrated in this hot weather) and so on.

This is probably really boring to read, so I'll save the blabbing until I've uploaded my pictures. There's a lot to look forward to, including dancing Batmen. Yes, plural. And the festival isn't over yet, either!

Japanese Word of the Day

暑い　あつい atsui
Meaning: HOT

Right now it's in favour as a greeting. ”暑い、ね！”　(Atsui, ne! It's hot, isn't it!) is the first thing after hello to say to anyone you meet. No matter where, no matter what the time of day.

It's so hot!!!!!!