Alone In Kyoto
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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in the "grass_pillow" journal:[<< Previous 20 entries]
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06:21 pm
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Homeward Bound
Well, today has been on the go nonstop. I saw 3 temples and spent the afternoon with Yumiko, my buddy whom I hadn't seen since shortly after I arrived. I spoke mostly Japanese with her all day and it was a wonderful feeling to end my time in Japan with. It also proved to me that I have no idea how to use particles, and when I started describing things that confused me about their use to Yumiko, she was stunned. She had no idea how to explain them, and couldn't ever remember being taught them. I guess that is what happens when you are fluent in a lanugage. You just know what sounds right and what sounds wrong. But it was an awesome day of conversation practice. I think next time I would like to do a home stay program. I think I flourish in family settings, and while having my own apartment was wonderful, I think speaking Japanese all day long, not just in the class room and in restaurants, is what I am really looking for next time. I also impressed myself with how many random vocab words I was able to pull up. I can make sentneces with vocab words at the very least, even if my grammar is the pits.
Farewell Japan! Who knows then I will see you again, or have this long a time to spend within your borders. I will miss you, but I'm looking forward to home!
Further reflections and diary entires will be posted from America to conclude my thoughts on my stay abroad. Plus, I have a ton of photos you havne't seen.
Current Mood:  excited
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02:11 pm
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Hiroshima, Mon Amour
On Friday morning, I left for Hiroshima by bus. It was a very relaxing ride, and I napped most of the way there. When I arrived in the city, I promptly got lost in the main train station. I simply could not fin my way to the street cars! It was horribly frustrating, because after just completing 4 months of Japanese study, I could not understand the directions people tried to give me. I wandered around in underground passageways that all looked the same, and eventually returned to my starting point. I ate a late lunch at a little restaurant and then took a taxi. The driver had never heard of my hotel, which kind of alarmed me, but poof there it was! If I had ever found my way to the street cars, I could have save quite a bit of money, because there was a station directly in front of the hotel. I checked in, handed over my credit card, and went up to my room. It was nothing fancy, but after 4 months of my tiny apartment and cheaply running through Tokyo with fast food and youth hostel sleep, this was much nicer! It was more or less just a big bed and bathroom, but that was all I needed to be content.
I spent the late afternoon and early evening hours wandering around the peace park. It was a very calm and quiet place, with white paths and many green trees. The only true reminder of the city's atomic legacy is the A-bomb Dome-- a building which was located almost at the hypocenter. Parts of the buildings frame remained standing, while everyone inside perished. The building has been perserved, and while the rest of the city has fully rebuilt itself. The rest of the park had several famous monuments and memorials. Some were beautiful, but I wound others strange. A cement tower with several levels had the figure head of an angel attached, along with several stone doves peering down. This tower was dedicated to children who were forced to do factory work to join in the war effort, and therefore lost their lives in the bombing. At the front, beside the explanatory plaque, there was a box and a button, with a note saying; give a donation and listen to some information in English and Japanese. So I put in some money and pushed the button, figuring it would then read something to me, like I have seen at other places such as the castles I have visited. Instead, there was a loud speaker system attached to the tower and the recored message started blarring out. It wasn't horrendously loud, but I am sure it could be heard some distance away. A woman began speaking in what I suppose was a solem voice, but it sounded choppy, mechanical, and frankly very creepy. I couldn't understand a word of it either, so I just stood there and waited for the English part ot come on. It eventually did and talked a little bit about the construction of the tower. I really don't know why this was set up. I stood there dutifully through the entire thing, but all I wanted to do was go away. I felt like I had disturbed the peace and quiet nature of the park with this eerie electronic voice croaking out its words over the loud speakers.
I was most glad to see the other children's monument, which was constructed in honor of Sadako and others who died from the bomb. Sadako's story is very famous not only in Japan. Only two years old at the time of the bomb, she eventually developed cancer and died. She began folding paper cranes, a symbol of longevity, believing that if she could reach 1000, she would be cured. I had always heard that she died before reaching 1000 and her classmates helped to fold the rest. However, when I visited the muesum the next day, I learned that she not only reached her goal, but continued to fold cranes until she died. I saw some of her cranes on display--they were so tiny and delicate. Apparently, because origami paper was too expensive, she used celophane and would sometimes fold them with a pin, because she made them so small. Some cranes were given out at her funeral, but I still amazed to see some of the ones she made herself, and which brought so much attention to her experience, and those who suffered the same fate. At the monument, which her classmates helped create, fresh cranes are constantly being delivered. They are made by school children from around Japan, but there is also a window where you can registar a chain of paper cranes you bring yourself. I saw a family bringing their own cranes to the monument.
As I w alked around, this Indian guy came up to me several times. He first wanted to know if I was Buddhist, and then asked me where I was from, how long I was staying, etc. These are pretty typical questions that I get asked by Japanese people all the time, but it was a little strange to my ears to be hearing them again in English. Especially because I didn't exactly come to Hiroshima Peace Park looking to make new friends. I went by myself, because its a place I feel serious about and I wasn7t going on some pleasure trip. A wile later, I sat on a bench and was actually compsoing some stupid poem, and this guy came up again and started making conversation. He wanted to know if he could sit down next to me on my little bench. I told him quite frankly that I would rather be alone. Then he went away. I saw him later on, and went in the opposite direction. Sorry to burst his bubble, but a.) I was a female travler on her own b.) I really did want to be alone and c.) I'm not about to recreate _Hiroshima Mon Amour_, for goodness sakes!! Maybe the middle of Peace Park is a place where you should be making new friends, breaking across international boundaries and whatnot, but at the same time idel chit chat doesn't belong there either. I was on my own, in a contimplative mood, and perfectly content that way.
TO end the night, I wandered around looking for the Okonomiyaki Village, the highest number of okonomiyaki restaurants per capita in all Japan. I asked some guy handing out flyers for directions and he actually walked me down several streets to show it to me. That gesture was greatly appreicated, and totally different from someone trying to invite themselves onto your bench in the middle of Peace Park.
I ordered the Hiroshima Okonomiyaki, which said it came with lots of onions. It also ended up coming with bacon. This caused a bit of a dilema for me. To eat or not to eat? I was sitting at the bar, which was actually a big grill-- because the cook it right in front of you and then you eat it off the grill. If I picked out all the chunks of bacon, it would be really obvious and I would be leaving behind a big pile on the grill. I didn't want to rude, so I ate most of it. I think I may have encountered meat occasionally, but I really haven't gone out of my way to eat it my whole time in Japan. I don't have any religious or even political reason to not eat meat. I just don't really feel like it and am not missing it, so I guess that makes me a vegetrian. But I also don't want to be a psychotic vegetarian who limits their eating options to the extreme. So I will be a casual mainly not meat eating vegetarian. We'll see how things go when I get back to the states. ANyway, so I ate some of the stupid bacon, but I also didn't really enjoy it. So I guess that is probably telling me something and that I am liking this vegeatian thing when I do it. Sorry to ramble, this is my experiment.
The next day I spent many hours at the Peace Museum. This was one of the main reasons that I went on the trip myself. I think I saw just about everything there was to be seen. I read all the informative signs, watched the video screens, and I even got one of those audio tour tape recorder things. I have never gotten one of these ata musuem before. I picked it up at the enterance because I didn't know if there would be somethings labeled in Japanese and not in Engish. I also wanted to see how the audio comemntary was presented. In someways, I found it annoying-- espcially the way the earpiece fit. But it also did indeed give me extra information. At times it was practically just reading the informative signs outloud to me with a few words changed here and there. But at others, it read quotes from victims experiences or talked about individual case studies in more detail. At times the museum could be quite graphic, and if I hadn't listened to the audio recording, I wouldn't have learned about the deformity which I considered most horrific. But I won't write about that here, because this is my journal and you probably didn't come here looking for such a downer.
There were two things that particularly stood out to me at the museum. One was a life sized diarama or victims wandering around amongst fire and charred black buildings. The dolls themselves looked rather fake. The make up used in the film of _Black Rain_ also looked very fake. I guess there is no 'good' way to represent people walking around with their skin hanging off in melted tatters. The second thing was an exhibit of drawings made by hibakusha (atmoic bomb vicitims). Although some people did stick to grays and browns, these pictures and the diaramas were the only instances of color in the museum. Less than a handful of photographs were taken on the day of the bombing, the journalists lens became too full of tears for him to use his camera. All of these, and any that followed were all in black and white. Even when I imagine the great mushroom cloud, it is all in black and white. All the movies I have seen that have interpretations of the bombings are in black and white....the photos.. the film...the print of the text in books that I have read. But the main colors of that day and all those that followed were black. . . and red. Everything was on fire, and then turned black. I saw a lunch box, with rice still in it--looking as if it had turned to stone. Even the steps, where someone once sat, is now nothing more than a black, scarred in shadow. I can never imagine being in such hell.
So, after this downer of a morning, I had a surreal change of scene for the museum restaurant, where I ate an overpriced slice of pizza. Then I went off in search of the castle. I found Hiroshima a very badly marked town, as for as street signs go. You pretty much don't see a sign for things until you are there. I found the castle, but my map said it closed at 4;30, while the sign out front said 3:30 was the last entrance time. I thought I was too late, but then a Japanese couple went up and bought tickets. So in I went!
The castle was rebuilt (after the bomb, of course), and it was very tourist friendly. I went up around a main stair case, and every floor had verious things in glass cases. At the top, there was a nice view. It was very hot. They had next to nothing in the gift store. They had one post card and the only book in English was a kid's guide for 100 yen. So I got both. What a frivolous way to spent 200 yen!
Then I went to a garden and walked past a church built out of international coopersation. It was too late to visit any of the art museums. I had a salad and pancakes for dinner. The woahs of not knowing kanji-- I didn't know how to read the kanji on the plastic model in the window, so instead of ordering the pancake set with fruit, I ended up with just tea. Oh well!
Then I walked past a store selling buns filled with yams or chestnuts or something. THey were in the shape of hedgehogs. So I ate those up too! They were almost too cute to eat, but I just had to buy them!
The next day I check out of my hotel, and took the tram out to Miyajima Island, one of the three most famous sites in Japan. Unfortunately, this entry is getting quite long, and I am running out of time to go shopping. So I will have to tell you about my adventures with floating tori gates in the sea or riding in cable cars suspended high above a mountainside covered with primival trees--another time. But it may have to wait until I am back in Ameria.
I return home on the 1st. Gotta go and get the last of your omiyage!
Current Mood:  thoughtful
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11:05 am
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Culture Shock
One of the things I love best about Japan is the emphasis on the present. One particular way this is seen is through the changing of the seasons. In America, autumn clothes show up in stores in July, and Christmas decorations are put up right after Halloween. However, in Japan, scoiety is focus on buying things that are specifically 'in season'. Seasons are define by certain aspects of nature. In the spring, they view the sakura blossons; in the summer, they look for fireflies; in autumn, the maple leaves take over; and in winter, they may turn their faces toward the moon. For centuries, screens have been painted or haiku have been written to revolve around the season.
Food has also come to have different meanings depending on the season. In Japanese homes, the dinner menu changes, according to what is being brought to the markets at that time of year. Certain fish, for example is only served during summer. Certain fruits are also asscoiate with the seasons.
Fast food markets are no exception to the seasonal changes. Things appear for a limited time, and then they are gone. At Starbucks, the Azuki (red bean) Frappacino is about to be replaced by Mango or Raspberry options. Flavors of KitKat bars also have gone through quite a cycle while I've been here-- flavors of green tea, melon, and now kiwi has just appeared on the shelves.
Aside from mango, another traditional summer fruit is watermelon. Watermelon, paper fans, and fireworks equals a Japanese summer. However, it is now also responsible for my most severe case of culture shock during the last four months.
A frequent question that came up in class was 'Have you become accustomed to Japanese life.' In some ways yes, in some ways no. But I knew that it was a definite yes, when Ulu and I were in Teremachi during the Gion Matsuri days and we happened to walk by KFC. We saw this:
Connel Sanders, wearing a yukata and holding a dish of watermelon.
'Now that warrents a picture,' I said to Ulu and she agree. We took our our cameras, amused that they had dressed up Connel Sanders to match the season and the festival mood of the city.
A tourist walked by us and suddenly howled, 'Oh my God, that is so racist.'
Ulu and I were in shock. This had not even occured to us. We had both stood there, take our pictures, and assumed that it was nothing more than a little tribute to the season. We were both in our Japanese mind sets.
To return to my American self, I admit, it was within the last two years that I first learned about the stereo type that fried chicken and watermelon (and apparently malt liqueur) are supposed to be favorite foods for African Americans. Jason had to inform me of this when I ate with him at the Lothian Cafeteria on Martin Luther King Day. He was in shock that the cafeteria had served fried chicken and watermelon for their dinner, while I did not know of any connection.
Is it appropriate? Is it racist? Is it merely a cause for culture shock. What do you think? It certainly is amusing, if nothing else.
Current Location: library
Current Mood:  curious
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01:44 pm
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Updates
Just had my last final!
I have some power sight seeing planned, including a 3 day trip to Hiroshima. So not much journaling shall appear in my last few days in Japan. I'll try and keep a diary, so I can rmeember it and make more posts later!
I'll be home in a week!
Current Mood:  exhausted
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05:32 pm
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NO SPOILERS WANTED
Everyone's posting on my friends pages about Harry Potter! Everyone's reading it but meeeeeeeee. >.
Current Location: Konbaikan
Current Mood: jealous
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06:33 pm
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Kyoto Melodies
I have recently compiled a play list of some songs I have listened to freqently while abroad. It has a strange range of music, going from folk music, a bit of broadway, to some alternative rock. I may still play around with the inlcusion of other songs, and the track orders, but I think this is pretty much set as my new studying background noise.
Song Name- Band/Album
1. Alone In Kyoto - Air/Talkie Walkie
2. Cherry Blossom Girl - Air/Talkie Walkie
3. Karaoke Plays - Maximo Park/ Our Earthly Pleasures
4. Cat And Mouse- The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus/ Don't You Fake It
5. What About Next Time- Milburn/ Well Well Well
6. Fluorescent Adolescent- The Arctic Monkeys/ Favourite Worst Nightmare
7. Girls Who Play Guitars- Maximo Park/ Our Earthly Pleasures
8. Fashionista- Jimmy James
9. Blind Pilots- The Cooper Temple Clause
10. Last Bus- Milburn/ Well Well Well
11. Rose Darling- Steeley Dan/ Katy Lied
12. Any World (That I'm Welcome To)- Steeley Dan/ The Royal Scam
13. Sons And Daughters - The Decemberists
14. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go - Bob Dylan/Blood On The Tracks
15. Si Tu Dois Partir- Fairport Converntion
16. Winter's On The Wing - The Secret Garden (The Musical)
17. Dolphin's Lullaby - Firefall/Firefall
18. Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Fairport Convention
Current Mood: groggy
Tags: uent
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03:57 pm
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Mip Mip Mip
(Title for Terry Pratchet Fans)
Yesterday, my second day of finals commenced and then I spent the rest of the day unwinding. For lunch I went to Inoda Coffee, which is more like the old fashioned coffee houses that used to be all over Kyoto. The one I went to was the chain's main house, and I believe it had been there for a hundred years. It is mentioned in both my guidebooks, one of which raves about it, while the other says it is overrated, but the old time feel is still nice.
I had a sandwhich and some orange juice. The waitors wore white tuxedo jackets and the chairs had red plush cushions. There were some parrots in cages toward the back. All in all, a very enjoyable place. However, I was eating a bit late, so I was ravenously hungry. After that, I decided to get another bite to eat. I decided to try a place which seemed to be selling both vinegar and smoothies. I ordered an ichigo (strawberry) freshu (fresh). I was a little disappointed in watching its creation: the guy blended too large, frozen strawberries and mixed it with water. THis was not going to be much of a smoothie. After I left the store, I thought I had been over vinegar-fied, and that I was imagining that there was vinegar in my smoothie. When I met up with Ulu for present shopping, I made her try my smoothie. She agreed--there was definitely vinegar in my drink. So that is a new lesson to me. If you buy something from a store selling vinegar, they will sell you vinegar. It was my mistake to assume it was a smoothie! Whoops!
Anyway, so then we present shopped and I did great! I am almost done with my list! Huzzah. At first I was thinking I might just get everyone key chains and cell phone charms. And while I have found a few of those that are certainly approrpiate for certain people, shopping with Ulu has been very lucky, and I think I have gotten more imaginative and person-specific with my shopping.
Then since we were tired from shopping, we decided to spend a night in. I we rented some movies--Ulu was shocked that I had never seen KILL BILL, which is her favorite film. So we crashed at her place and she made us pasta for dinner. She also gave me some of her cleaning supplies and left over toilet paper, since she is leaving for the States sooner than me. We watched Kill Bill. The Japanese version of the film is editted differently and Ulu was noticing all the little changes. She also said this version was more violent-- the American version toned it down quite a bit. She had heard that in one scene someone's brains fell out, but, fortunatley, that didn't happen. The movie was a bit too violent for me, but at the same time, it was ridiculous in its excess, with the gag of blood spraying everywhere any time someone lost a limb (which was often). The only reason I haven't seen volume 2 yet is because I had to take the subway home! It was violent, but I still want to know how it ends.
This morning I went to the Botanical Gardens! They were very beautiful indeed. I took lots of pictures of flowers, until my camera battery got quite low and I had to stop. In the conservatory, I met some nice people at the ticket booth, who chatted with me for a while about Kyoto. The old man was pretty good at English too, so could translate for me whenever I didn't understand a question. I told them that I liked the gardens, especially the street lined with Camphor trees, which I had read about in Kawabata Yasunari's novel, _The Old Capital_. They talked to me a lot about matsuris and The Tale of Genji (which I haven't actually read.)
In the tropical part of the green house, I especially enjoyed the bromeliad room. I tried to see if there were any frogs living in the flowers, but I didn't see any.
Outside, there was garden with tables and tables of bonsai. That was my other favorite part.
The greenery and flowers were impressive and relaxing. The ground was damp from rain the night before, but my weather was ok. I wore jeans, even though it is really too sticky to wear jeans in this weather, because I didn't want more mosquito bites. I also used some bug spray--hopefully it will have proved effective!
I looked EVERYWHERE for this restaurant mentioned in my Lonely Planet book. There were no streets labeled on that part of the map, so I was just going by street patterns. I am pretty sure I found where it was supposed to be. There was a building that could have been a small house, or maybe a restaurant there. But it had all its curtains closed and there were no signs. So maybe it was closed today, or just permanently. I know someone else who tried to find it once, and I had thought they just might not have looked in the right places. Nope. I had no luck either.
So I ate at a small cafe, because it was covered in signs that said welcome and please come in! in English. So I thought it looked pretty inviting. It was a pretty cute place, I think possibly run by a husband and wife. I hate some omuraise (omlette rice-- sort of a burrito shaped egg, wrapped around some orangish rice. this time mine also came with mushrooms and little shrimps in the rice. also weird sauce on the side.). It was a decent lunch, and quite filling. I was starving by then.
I realized I had left my cell phone at my apartment, so I went back, and now I am here at the internet! And now you know all about my weekend, thus far! Ta-da.
Current Mood: sleepy
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12:58 pm
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Biotei
Yesterday was the major event during the Gion Matsuri. All the street vendors who had appeared overnight one day, were gone the next. This time the streets were closed for a procession of wooden floats, all decorated in various traditional fashions, being pulled by men is traditional clothes. I got up early and went with some girls to watch the procession. We were all in different degrees of crankiness from not enough sleep and no breakfast. We ended up splitting up and regrouping and meeting other exchange students throughout the morning. I got breakfast at a Dotour Coffee shop (these are all over Japan, possibly more popular than Starbucks?) and watched most of the parade from the meeting place of Shijo-dori and Teramachi. I had a pretty decent view and I saw all the floats. I also got pictures of the exchange students who were helping with pulling the last float. They apparently only asked people in level 6 Japanese, and of course, only men can pull the floats.
Anyway, I will impress you all with the Gion Matsuri Maddness later on. It will be much more fulfilling with pictures. However, I took way too many pictures... there were 32 floats and I have some of all of them... and then some more! I'll edit things to be reader friendly. I am probably overwhelming my lap top with pictures though.
Anyway, what I really want to write about is my favorite restaurant, Biotei. My Lonely Planet book (sorry, you guys keep having to hear about this guide book, I read it constantly) hails Biotei as the best vegetarian restaurant in the city, and the fact that it is so delicious and only a block and a half north of my apartment have all probably contributed to me more or less ceasing to eat meat. I am still sticking with eggs, milk, and fish (this is Japan after all).
Anyway, for the last month or so, I have made a point of eating at Biotei once a week. At first I was going to do it on Wednesdays, but I've gone the last three Tuesdays in a row, so I guess my visiting day is now Tuesday. I wish I'd been eating there for the last three months as well. It has been such a wonderful experience.
Biotei is situated diagonally from the post office, on the second floor of a small building full of boutiques. Outside, there is an adorable wooden sign with fruits and vegetables painted on it, along with a menu in almost illegible kanji (at least to me). Then you go up a metal spiral staircase, and through some curtains to enter the restaurant.
Eating at Biotei kind of reminds me of being inside a tree. The tables and chairs are all made of wood, which retains a grainy texture and is a very tree-bark color still, rather than polished and stained as most tables are. Since I go there to eat by myself, I like to sit at the counter, which makes me feel like I am eating off a suspended log or fallen tree trunk. I am almost surprised there are not muchrooms popping up beside me while I eat. On the walls there are lots of shelves, selling various things. You can buy oraganic face care products (think Bert's Bee's), a large jar of pickled plums, some imported teas, or prepackaged cookies. They always play jazz music in the back ground, and it is a very relaxing place to go with a book or to study Japanese homework.
Biotei is run by three women. I almost wonder if it is a mother and her two daughters--- the ages could seem right, but they don't have any particular facial features that make me think they are related. The older woman is the main chef. The kitchen is a narrow hallway which runs paralel to where I eat at the bar, so I can peer in at them cooking through the shelves. Then there is the 'older sister' (as I think of her) who seem to do most of the assembling. I have watched her put together amazing salads, arrange little fruits in a yogurt parfait, and turn two slices of brownie on a plate into a work of art. She often wears a t-shirt with ducks on it that says VEGAN! Lastly, there is the 'younger sister', who is the main waitress. She speaks a little English, and will look things up for you in a Japanese-English cooking dictionary if you don't understand. She is the one who helps me go through the menu, tells me what they have to eat today. She carries most of the plates, and gives me refills on tea and now brings me water without being asked (see previous post). She has a really cute hair cute--- bobbed hair and fringed bangs. She is very sweet and tends to chat with me the most, although now all three ladies know me and talk to me a little. When she is not serving food, she helps out with the assembling dishes process or washes dishes. These are just what I have observed them doing most. I don't think they have specifically defined roles-- if one girl is busy, another will bring out a tray of food, or wash her own bowl or cup. Watching the three of them slip past each other in the narrow kitchen is like a beautiful dance.
Now I shall talk about the menu. They have an English menu, possibly an addition made because of their mention in the Lonely Planey book? I have seen foreign travelers there several times. The Japanese menu is colorful, but very hard for me to read. It also seems to change almost every time I go there. I think I figured out the reason for this last night. I think they hand write the menu every day, depending on what food they have to work with in the kitchen. When I first came, I started getting their dinner set menu. This would come with a variety of small dishes, always including brown rice, miso soup, and pickled veggies, and one main dish that would surprise and delight you. Only one time did I eat at Biotei and not enjoy the food-- the dinner set was mainly fried foods and sea weed. I regret that this made me hesitate to go back for several months! Since then, I have started mainly ordering what the waitress points out to me for tonights dishes. They have had mushrooms...eggplant... fried spring rolls. I usually choose one of these in combination with a smoked salmon or tofu salad. Even the salads change-- the first time I ordered the tofu salad it came with slices of apples and oranges (the first time I had eaten an orange in Japan!). The other time it had pepper and chick peas. Both were very enjoyable.
Last night, I had an adventure ordering though. Oh wow! The waitress pointed out to me today's side dishes and one of them was a word I did not recognize at all. She brought down her food dictionary, and I looked at it. But it was just words that meant absolutely nothing to me, I don't even remember what it said. So I decided to go out on a limb and try it. I was expecting some sort of weird vegetable, so go along with the mushrooms, eggplant, or spring rolls in the past.
I think she was saying 'samba' or 'sanba', but maybe it was 'saba', which means mackarel. I ordered the smoked salmon salad, so I wasn't expecting two fish dishes. But what I got wasn't just fish--- it was the WHOLE FISH> Everything from head to tale-- skin and eyes still on. I don't think I have ever been served a whole fish before. Luckily, I had eaten fish with all the bones still in with Sally at the sushi bar downstairs from our apartment. If I hadn't had that experience, there is no way I would have been able to pick away at it with my hashi (chopsticks). In Japan, I had an encounter with fish bones in soup once, and Jane told me that served her something like that with her old host family. You were supposed to just crunch them up. I am not very good at crunching up fish bones. I managed to avoid most of them, but there were still a couple of times that I secretly plucked some bones from my mouth when no one was watching. But the fish was cooked so nice, that I was often able to get good sized bits without any bones at all. It was kind of a barbaric meal. I know Luke has a thing about eating food with the bones still in, and I can kind of understand it. I certainly didn't eat the fish head (sorry, not going to eat them up yum!). All in all the fish was quite good, and a dining experience I have never had before to be sure! When I finished and turned my attention to my salad, the waitress came and picked up my plate. I told her (in Japanese) I was a little surprised when I saw my plate, wondered how to eat it, but I did it!! Anyway, the I was endlessly compliment about how 'kerei'(prettily) I had eaten my fish-- I had done quite well with the bones and kept just about the entire skeleton in tact. She then showed my plate to the other ladies who were also impressed and agreed it was 'kirei!'. This is an experience that cannot possibly be rivaled by anything.
After I finished my salad, I was pretty full. But I kind of wanted to spoil myself, so I asked for a brownie, because the one I had the other week was GORGEOUS! It had raisins in it and came with little pieces of fruit and jam around the sides of the plate. But yesterday, they didn't have a brownie. They told me to come back tomorrow. I'm not sure if I should. As my mother just pointed out, I don't want to seem to be haunting their restaurant. Once a week is probably good enough for a nice dinner.
But they really must like me there! When I went to pay, they gave me a present!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was all wrapped up, and being wary of Japanese manners, I asked if I should open it then, and they said yes. It was wrapped very nicely. Since they thought I had eaten my fish so delicately, I made sure to rip as little of the paper as possible (though I did it more swiftly than Nanna, when she tries to open presents), and then had to unfold another paper which wrapped my present. It was a big cloth (big enough to cover one of my windows) showing the Gion Matsuri. I had even thought about buying a smaller handkercheif sized version of such a cloth as a souvenir. It is beautiful! I told them that I had watched the parade and that some of my male friends had actually walked with the floats (I didn't know how to say pulling). So that was very exciting. I thanked them many times. I was positively beaming when I left.
Current Mood: happy
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04:20 pm
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HA!
Today I didn't have class (yay!). However studying is pretty tough because the Gion Matsuri is going on, literally in the street below my apartment. There are all these booths and vendors with food and carnival games. There is even a big float .... kind of like a giant wagon covered in lanters, ON MY STEET! How cool. My apatment may be expensive, but it sure is in a good location.
Yesterday, they closed Shijo dori and Karasuma dori to vehicles and opened it up to foot traffic. This is incredible. The streets are swarmed! I even got stuck in a slow moving stampeed, which made lines at Disneyland look swift. I had no where to go, I just stood.
This morning, I woke up and studied for a few hours. Then I took myself to lunch, which is something I rarely get the chance to do, especially on a weekday, when I usually have to eat on campus. I went to the Shizenha Restaurant Obanzai, which my Lonely Planet book describes as 'A little out of the way, but good value, this place serves a decent buffet style lunch, mostly organic Japanese vegetarian food. It's northwest of Karasuma-Oike crossing, set back a bit from the street.' At first, I did indeed go down the wrong street looking for it. However, as I looped back down the next street-- I found it! I was a little worried that it wouldn't be a foreigner friendly restaurant, but I did just fine! There were even three American in the back, speaking much louder than any of the Japanese people's conversation levels. I ate all kind of weird food from the buffet, all of it delicious. The only Issues I encountered were not being able to make tea come out of the tea pot, and not knowing how to open the rice cookers. I ended up passing on the rice anyway. In Japan, it's not a meal unless you eat rice. But I decided to pass, and filled up on other stuff.
From there, I walked further west, toward Nijo Castle. I wanted to check out another 'hidden gem' of Kyoto 'rarely seen by short term travelers.' I went to Nijo Jinya, which is a very old house once owned by the Ogawa family. Ogawa made special improvements to his house, so that there were lots of secret passages and security systems to stand against fire and enemy attackers!
When I fisrt entered the complex, there was no one about. I looked behind a blue curtained doorway and saw someone's washingmachine and just a bunch of stuff. This does not look like a good tourist spot, I thought. This looks like somone's house. Then I noticed a side door with a doorbell. I debated, and then figuring I'd come, I might as well check it out. I pushed the button.
A voice called out for me to enter. I went in, and it was a pretty typical landing to a Japanese house. There are wooden planks where you take off your shoes, shelves for you to put your shoes, and then you can step up onto the tatami mat floors. A woman was sitting at a little counter, obviously where I should buy and entrance ticket. She was not too happy to see me, and was frankly rather rude to me. I was most put off. She didn't want me to come in. She said that if I didn't understand Japanese that it was 'dame!' no good, and she raised her arms in a big X, to show me there was no way I could do it. I explained that I was studying aborad at Doshisha and I (I kind of peetered out here, but well, I wanted to see that house that was in my guidebook). I asked if it would be ok to come in, even if I could only understand a little. She grudgingly sold me a ticket. She made me give her my purse (she used the word 'nimostu'(baggage), instead of 'kaban', which is what is usually used for purse, but I totally understood her, so HA!)
Then another woman led me to where a tour was already going on. I hadn't realized you NEEDED to be part of a tour to see the place; it was not somewhere you could just wander in and look around. The tour had started at 2, about 10 minutes before I arrived. There some other foreigners there, and one Japanese woman who was explaining things to some men in quiet, whispered English. By listening to the explanations, and eavesdropping on the English translation, I did a pretty good job of understanding all that was going on. At the very end, I bought an extra English pamphlet, so now my knowledge is complete.
The first room we went to was the Great Parlor. The most interesting feature of this room was a square hole in the ceiling, which had a small window on one of its walls. If you were looking up, it appeared to be just a skylight. However, what you can't see, is that there is room for one man to lie down up there on the opposite side. This soundproof guardhole was positioned directly above where guests sat. That way, he could drop down and attack should a dangerous situation arise.
A room on the side, had the tatami mats removed, so the floor was just smooth wood. This room could thus be converted into a small Noh stage, should the daimyo wish to enjoy a private performance. The screense on the room were soundproofed, to prevent eavesdropping between rooms. The sliding door also made a clicking sound as it opened and closed (demonstrated for us), so no intruders could slip in unnoticed.
At this point a woman came over and told all of the foreigners to come with her. From then on she took us all on a separate tour. There were still quite a number of us. I think only a few of us were actually foreingers, but except for me, they all had a native speaker accompanying them. From then on the woman gave us the explanation, and the Japanese woman (who was also an English teacher) started translating for the rest of us. Now, I could understand just about everything.
We saw a garden, done in a Nara style. There was a well in it; apparently there were 12 wells throughout the property. They would also hang up wet mats. There was even a pully system to bring buckets of water to the upper floors. All this was done in case of fire.
The corridors were too narrow for a man to draw his katana and swing it around safely.
The tea room had a 'backdoor' through which a fleeing man could escape.
One of the most fascinating elements was the suspended staircase. At first it appeared to be just an incredibly low ceiling. That way if men with top knots (or even just the tall hats, I presume!) were trying to charge down the passage way, they would have to slow down and move with their heads ducked. Very clever. We were even more surprised when the low ceiling pulled down and became a ladder. It led to a secret room, where the most important person could be hidden way. They would keep a stash of food there, so that the lord or whoever, could stay for an extended period of time, until it was safe to come out.
The Tomabune-no-ma (Thatched Boat Room) was also very interesting. It had such a low ceiling! It was made to look like a boat inside, supposedly. It really just looked kind of like a room with a slanted, low ceiling. One must also step down to enter it, as if you were stepping onto a boat. This is not to unusual to me, but now that I think about it, you have to step up to enter most Japanese rooms. If you walked across the tatami mats, it also sounded like you were walking on a boat. A tour guide demonstrated this to us, but we were not really allowed in the room. Aparently the floor was very delecated, and it would not be safe to enter.
The other favorite thing that I saw was an unusual sun dial. It was called the tokei-mado, which I understood to mean clock window! The sun shown through, and by its shadow, one could know the hour! Very neat.
At the end of the tour, we returned to the main entrance to put on our shoes. I understood something about that we had only seen 2/3 of the house. I could accept that if there were parts of the house not open to the public, but I believe it was simply because we were not Japanese that we were not allowed to see it. Did they think we wouldn't understand the explanation? Even if you don't have an explanation, it is sometimes cool to see things.
Then one woman started to take me aside and invited me to join the next tour with Japanese people. I think she was impressed with how much I had understood. However, I thought she was telling me that it would take three hours (now I think that maybe she was saying it would start at 3;00?). But either way, I had other things I needed to do today (like check email, gosh how important! plus getting back to studying!)and I kind of chicken-out. They had a good impression of my Japanese, and I decided to leave it like that. It was nice that they were going to make an exception for me on their no foreigners can come see the rest of the house on the Japanese tour rule, but I hope you all are not disappointed in me for not accepting. It is also silly that they should only invite me, when there were even some Japanese people on our smaller tour, who were chaperoning their foreigner friends.
Anyway, I saw the house! Now I can highlight it in my book, which is, perhaps, one of my absolute favorite parts about sightseeing.
Ffffffffffffinals? But WHY?
Current Location: Konbaikan
Current Mood:  rushed
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03:59 pm
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A Philosophical Meander Through Northern Higashiyama
( Turtle and Dove vs. Tortoise and Crane )
Current Mood: sleepy
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03:02 pm
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Beep Beep! Beep Beep! Yeah!
I don't know if I will ever get used to the fact that they drive on the left in Japan. I am fine when it comes to having to check for traffic. But whenever I look at cars, I still expect the steering wheel to be on the other side. I think that passengers are the drivers, and vice versa. Sometimes I look at cars with no one in the passenger seat, and I think that they are being driven by ghosts! My brain just never knows what to expect.
I think Japanese drivers are pretty agressive. I mean, there are plenty of jerk on the roads in California too. But Japanese drivers just are not very pedestrian friendly. And plus, they make California rolls (not talking about the sushi) look legal. They came to a stop sign and barely even slow down. They just breeze on through.
Taxi drivers are the worst. They have no repect. They zig and the zag, they blow through all the intersections without a thought. They love their horns. On streets without sidewalks, they will beep at you, to tell you to get out of their way!! Lindsay taught me her trick of getting through cross walks.. start walking early, and turn your head to *look* in the direction of the on coming car. The driver will see you looking, and have no choice but to stop at the upcoming stop sign and wait for the 5 seconds it takes you to get out of the way. But even Lindsay doesn't try and challenge the taxi drivers to stop.
Licensed taxi drivers in Japan all have green plates. There is also one taxi company whose logo is a clover. Most of them are three-leaved clovers. But apparently there are a few four leaf clover taxis driving around the city. It's supposed to be lucky if you see one/ride in it. I wonder what you have to do to get to drive a four leaf clover taxi?
I have only taken a taxi once here. It was on my first weekend in Japan. Lindsay's parents checked out of their hotel room early, and me and several others all went there to use her free internet. We were so internet starved in those days!That was before we knew the layout of the subway systems well. I had no idea where the hotel was... it seemed to be hidden in the massive sprawling side of the city! Now I know it was probably even walking distance (a longer walk, but still doable) from my apartment. But yeah, that was my last time in a car. It will be strange to be back in LA, no longer using public transportation every day.
It's raining for the 4th day in a row. It would be nice, if only it gave us a break from the heat as well. But, no such luck! Speaking of luck, happy Friday the 13th, everyone!
Current Mood: hopeful
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04:47 pm
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Notes on Noodles
Japan has some of the healthiest fastfood in the world--noodles. The Japanese love their noodels. They like ramen, udon, and soba. I am not to big a fan of ramen. When I first got here, I liked udon best--thick and chewy white noodles that are a delight to have in your mouth. But now I have been swayed by the power of soba noodles. These are thinner, buckwheat noodles, so probably the healthiest too. But one of the best things to eat on a hot summer day is zaru soba. These are soba noodles served cold, and they come with a dipping sauce. You grind up sesame seeds in a little dish and poor them into the sauce, along with some little onions. And sometimes it comes with a raw egg that you can mix in as well, if raw eggs are your kind of thing. When I went to the Japan Center with Jason and Luke over winter break, I almost ordered zaru soba. But I hesitated, having never tried it before, and stayed with udon. Now I know what I missed! At least I know I can get it in America still.
Also, when I went to the aforementioned restaurant with Luke and Jason, we were also slightly grieved over the size of the glasses. I had agreed to an early lunch not really out of hunger, but out of thirst! However, the cups of water we were given were so tiny! And no refills.......Now I know that is just typical style for a Japanese restaurant.
I have been eating at the same restaurant,Biotei, once a week for about the last 4 weeks. I will write more about that place some other time. But it is just wonderful and they are very nice there; it is just 3 women who seem to do all the work. They are also starting to get to know me a bit, especially the girl who is the waitress. When I first ate there, I got a little cup of tea and a little cup of water. It was very hot, so I savored each cup slowly. Now that I have been returning, I get.... special attention! I get... refills! You usually get tea at a restaurant for free, but at Biotei, she now remembers that I like to ask for water and tea. So she brought me both without me having to ask! Yay! Service.
Current Location: library
Current Mood: noodles!
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03:10 pm
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Welcome Ashton!!
So my cousin Ashton will probably (hopefully!) have been born by the time anyone gets around to reading this! I was hoping to get home before he made his appearance, but he's 5 weeks early! So I'll be seeing him when I get back! How exciting! This is my first time getting to have a cousin!
Lots of love the Aunti, Travis and Ashton! Yay for the Neale family!
Current Location: Computer Lab
Current Mood: cheerful
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01:57 pm
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Kaitenzushi
Last night was the final meeting of EWS where Drew and I have been 'teaching' English conversation. Instead of class, we just went out for food. We went to Musashi's, which is a kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant on Sanjo-dori. Mushashi's is the kaitenzushi restuarant listed in my Loney Planet book, but I had never been there. I have always gone to Kappazushi, which is a kaitenzushi restaurant right next door to Musahsi's!
Kaitenzushi is amazing fun! In San Fransico, I went with the Katayanagi family to a place that serves sushi on little bloats that float around in a circle. The boats were all priced differently, according to the color of their plates. In Japan, they don't have boat-sushi. They have just converyor belt sushi.
According to the all knowing Internet (aka someone's old blog entry I discovered when typing in converyor belt sushi on Google): " "Kai" means "round" as in "going round", "ten" means "point" or "piece" and "zushi" is a phonetic variant of "sushi", so "kaitenzushi" means, literally, "pieces of sushi going round". " (More from the Internet): Kaitenzushi was first introduced in the city of Higashi Osaka in 1958, as a way of making luxury sushi now affordable to the masses!
Kaitenzushi is kind of like fast food for Japanese people, but very different from Makudonarudo (McDonald's) or Sarubakusu (Starbuck's). You have the option of sitting at the bar, or getting a booth table. Since I ususally go with a group of friends, we usually sit at a booth--or occasionally spread out across two booths. Conversations work better when people are facing each other, not all spread out in a line. The bar is usually for people who eat, then leave.
First, as at almost all Japanese restaurants, you wash your hands with a moist towlette known as an oshibori. Then you take a tea cup down from the ledge above the counter. You put in a bag of green tea and fill it with hot water from a little tap that is next to your table. You can have as many refills as you want-- you do it yourself. You can get a fresh tea bag, or simply leave the old one in your cup.
The sushi, in the mean time, keeps circling on past you. You can sometimes see what coming on the other side of the conveyor belt, so its like a preview of what you can eat. That way, if you see something you want, you can be ready to grab it! Or if you are at the booth, have the friend who is sitting closest to the conveor belt grab it for you. You can eat as much, or as little as you want. I can ususally fill up at around 6 plates. I think I once maxed out at 8 plates, but I have seen Japanese people who have each eaten a dozen plates or more-- sometimes closer to 20! They must be stuffed! But I think my dad or Jason could probably do some serious damage at a kaitenzushi restaurant too.
Besides all asorted kinds of fish over rice, you can also get little dishses of salad, slices or fruit, a juice in the box, or deserts like a slice or cake or a bowl of pudding.
I think I am a loyal fan of Kappazushi. Ulu and I have actually eaten there the last 3 Saturdays in a row, once with just ourselves, the other times with various friends. It is the first place I went to, a short walk from where I live, and has a good atmosphere. Best of all, most of the dishes are just 100 yen (technically 105 yen each). Desert or fruit can cost more, but those are all specially marked. It is nice that you get to see what you are going to eat, so you don't have to make an order and then regret it. At Kappazushi most plates of two pieces of sushi. However, if you order a kappamaki (cucumber roll), you can get about 4-5 little pieces.
I am a big fan of kappamaki, for which Kappazushi gets its name. A Kappa is a creature of Japanese folklore. The inhabit ponds and lakes. They have webbed hands and feet, a vaguely frog-like humanoid, with a short crop of hair and a bowl of water on their heads. Mother's used to warn their children: 'Don't play by the water, or the Kappa will grab you and drown you in his pond!' However, you can usually defeat a Kappa by spilling the bowl of water from his head. The smart thing to do, if you should meet a Kappa, is to bow to him. Then he will bow back, and spill the water! His powers will then be weakened, or he may even die. The other way to distract a kappa is to give him cucumbers, which he will find almost as delicious as eating human children! For this reason, cucumber rolls in Japan are called Kappamaki.
Kappa were once scary creatures, but they were also mischievious trouble makers. And in mordern times, they have become down right cute. Now that it is summer at Kappazushi, they are doing some sort of special seasonal event. There are some new rolls on the conveyor belt and in the background a recording is playing non-stop of some deepvoiced guys singing, 'Kappa Kappa Kappa Kappa Kappa Kappazushi!' It feels like Disneyland.
The other fun thing about Kappazushi--- if your desired sushi does not appear on the conveyor belt, or you want to make sure you are eating fresh fish in the summer heat--- you can order it. They have an intercom system set up with the chefs in the back, who will prepare your food after the push of a button and a short conversation in Japanese. Usually, it is Jane's job to order through the intercom. She, Ulu, and I like to all order multiple rolls of kappamaki!
I have eaten at one other kaitenzushi place, which was not far from Nijo Castle. Apart from having spring rolls on the menu, I wasn't too impressed. It didn't have an intercom system, and there were no tiny dishes meant for soy sauce. However, a friend who went back there discovered a fun fact. Everytime you ate five plates, you could feed them into a slot machine, and you had the chance to win prizes. If you were eating with a decent sized group, you would have many plates, and many chances to win prizes!
At Mushashi sushi, where I went last night, the sushi chefs are not in the back. Instead, they stand in the middle, and the conveyor belt goes around them. That way, when you want to order something fresh, you just call out 'sumimasen!!!!' a couple of times, to get the chef's attention. I had unagi (eel) that I could see was literally right off the grill! It practically melted in my mouth, it was so good! Mayuko and Satoru usually were the one's ordering, they were sitting on the inside of the booth, closest to the chefs. However, they let me order for myself once too. The chef took my order very stoically, and my Japanese friends all assured me he was a bad service man for not smiling at my Japanese.
It was my first time actually eating sushi with Japanese people. It was interesting to see their choices of fish. They picked out some shrimp for me to try. I also ate.... natto. Natto is infamous Japanese food-- fermented soy beans-- loved by native, loathed by gaijin! I ate a roll which was-- some seaweed, rapped around rice, topped with natto and a tiny raw egg (possibly a quail egg, very popular here). It was frankly, pretty darn gross. Well, I was eating it, and I was like, this is kind of ok-ish. But there was so much, and it took so long to chew, by the end of it, I was just grossed out. Midori ate my other piece, and she said that this was not the best quality natto. But still. It was sticky, yet slimy, while also being a giant blob of little bits. So, yeah, I'm not eating natto. I will join other Westerners and say, no thanks!
The other thing that Musashi sushi serves that Kappazushi does not is sakura. This is spelled the same way as cherry blossoms, but the intonation is different when pronounced. Sakura is raw horse meat. Um, EW! If I ate that, I think I would faint.
To pay, at a kaitenzushi restaurant, you stack up all your plates and push a button to summon a waitress. They count up all your plates and give you a bill, which you pay at the front. What I will miss most about dining in Japan is being able to pay 'betsubetsu' with no problems. 'Betsubetsu' means separately. Everyone is given a separate check. Or if you eat at a restaurant where you are given one bill, you bring it to the front and say 'betsubetsu.' Then the hostess rings up each item individually, and you pay at your turn. There is no problem with exact change--- they can give everyone their own change. You also do not have to leave a tip. Any tax or gratuity (if there is one) is already included. So you always know exactly what you owe, and only have to pay your share! No math needed (joy!). Compared to eating out in America, it's a total breeze.
So if you are craving cheap sushi in Japan-- kaitenzushi is not to be missed!
Current Location: Computer Lab
Current Mood: tired
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05:25 pm
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4 of July in Japan
Well, it is going to be a funny Independence Day, not at home watching 1776 with my mom and sisters!
Instead of fireworks, we are having だんだん雨！！！！！！ Some serious rain storms. Even with my umbrella, I managed to get soaking wet.
Well, only a few minute until I go meet Amanda. It is her last day in Japan. Less than a month until I will follow her back to California.
Current Mood: wet!
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03:27 pm
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Lunch at Tenryuji
Here is a rambling little reflection piece I had to write for class. I may post more about my very busy weekend, but for now, here is some over written drivel for you to read to keep off the suspense. (No photos )
( A Day in Arashiyama )
Current Location: Library
Current Mood: sick
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02:11 pm
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Posting Again
Well, I have been neglecting grass_pillow for a while, mainly because I have been so busy, I don't have as much time for the internet as I would like anymore. Oh well, it probably means I am spending more time studying? (hopefully?) But I did study like mad for my kanji examine today, and although I don't think it went perfectly (I hate it how they make you fill in the particles too, I always get those all wrong!), but I did feel like I had studied enough to not embarrass myself. Class was nice too, because our sensei gave us an extra long break because our examine was 7 pages long.
Anyway, so now I want to tell you about how somethings work in Japan but just wouldn't go over well in the States. I think people here just really like being talked AT. When I first got here, it was election season, so all these politicians were riding around in cars with a loudspeaker attached to the roof. Then they would blare their campaign messages at as they drove around. They would start as early as 8 am, and wake me up on weekends.
Even elevators here talk to you, to tell you that the doors are closing.
But here is what I most bizarre of all. When large trucks, driving along city streets, have to make a turn at a corner, a little automated message starts chirping: "*Brrrring!* *Brrrrring!* Gochuuikudasai! *Brrrring!* *Brrring!* Gochuuikudasai!"
Can you imagine if all the big rigs clogging up the freeways in California had a little recording announcing "Please be careful! Please be careful!" every time it needed to make a turn?
Current Location: Computer Lab
Current Mood: curious
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01:52 pm
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A Photo Posting Day!!
( Kiyomizudera )
Current Location: Computer Lab
Current Mood: silly
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01:23 pm
[Link] | ( Himeiji Castle )
Current Location: Computer Lab
Current Mood: mischievous
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04:16 pm
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Biting News
So, in the last three weeks, I have gotten eight mosquito bites. That is not so bad, I guess; I know some people who have gotten more than that. However, what I really want to know is why all eight of these bites have been on the lower half of my right leg? Seriously, is that leg just extra delicious? I don't get it. But it is a very itchy business!
Current Location: Library
Current Mood: curious
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