Cars, successful essays, boring Buddhist philosophical texts, and earthworms, among other pointless things

Today was fairly uneventful; you have been warned that this will be a boring post.

October 7 is always a day that sticks out in my mind, because on that day in 1998 I went to Disney World for the first time. I was in the fifth grade, and we had a long weekend because of parent-teacher conferences. I don't remember if that's the day our plane left or if that's the first day we had in the parks, but every October 7 I think about that trip. It was a blast. Holy goodness, I just realized that was 10 years ago! Wow. Weird...

I woke up an hour early today so I could chat with David before class. There's some good news from his end; he's buying a new (well, used, but new for him) car. A car with air conditioning! A car with four doors and four-wheel drive! Cruise control and power windows! Air bags and anti-lock brakes! A car that won't be a death trap in the snow! A blue Subaru Outback! What a find! And it's a real world car, too, something you could drive to a job interview. I'm so excited for him. The truck was functional, but this car is sweet. I can't wait to see it. Yay!

I also got to talk to Alex during that time, and we realized that it would be a really great job to write propaganda brochures for luxury resorts. You'd get to spend your time looking at pictures of beautiful scenery and writing eloquent captions, and maybe you'd even get discounts at the places. Future career, anyone?

After that excitement, I went to speaking class, which went well. Then I had some lunch, caught up on my psychology reading, worked ahead in the language lab, and went to writing class. We got our genkōyōshi tests back; I got an 88/90! Yay! We have about a week to make corrections, and we can get 10 more points. In theory, I'll be getting a 98%. I'm very proud! Hmm, wanna know what I wrote? Here's the translation.

My Everyday American Life
I was born in Louisville, Kentucky in America. Kentucky is famous for chicken and beautiful horses. I really like Louisville because it is a quiet town, the people are very kind, and there are many old buildings there.

From the time I was born until college I lived in a small house with my dad, mom, and younger sister. My family often had fun together. For example, every Saturday night we would do things like going shopping at stores, eating delicious food at restaurants, and seeing movies at the theater. Therefore I am close to my family.

Moreover, every Sunday at noon my family goes by car to my grandma's house to eat dinner. Many of my relatives spend time having fun at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Because I have as many as 17 cousins, the house gets very crowded.

My everyday life in America was fun, but I am glad I am studying in Japan.

Doesn't sound half bad, does it? Especially considering this time two and a half years ago I couldn't read a character of Japanese. ^_^ I know, I'm full of myself. But you ~~love~~ me for it!

Anyway, after the successful writing class in which we reviewed for another test that'll be on Thursday (really, it never ends!), I had psychology. Today was our last class discussing Yogacara Buddhism, which makes me sad. I actually understood this part of the course really well. Next we're moving on to Daoist psychology, which should also be interesting.

In Japan in Western Film and Literature, we finished watching Englishtenment Guaranteed. I liked it a lot. It's kinda artsy, filmed with some sort of camera that made things look like a home video, and there were a lot of really quiet scenes where not much happened. But, being pretentious as I am, I loved it. The characters were very neat; I don't like them, but they were fascinating in their reactions to being homeless in Tokyo and later living at a Buddhist temple. And the images of Japan were very accurate and unbiased, I thought. There was, as usual, a tendency to glorify "Old Japan" and demean the Japan of cell phones and Shibuya. But I really felt like it stemmed from a desire to portray the emptiness of a technologically-focused lifestyle, rather than a Japanese lifestyle. The movie criticized modern German culture as much as modern Japanese culture. I liked the film's style and message. Very cool.

So then I came home, studied, and napped. Surprise surprise, right? Also I fixed an egg sandwich for supper, along with hash browns. This time I fried the hash browns instead of baking them in the toaster oven, and they came out much better than last time. I was pleased. But I kinda burned my toast, although I was able to scrape off most of the blackness and salvaged the sandwich.

This evening I've been working ahead on my homework in just about every subject, mostly because I have little better to do. Monday there are no classes, so I might go do something big over the weekend, too, and it'll be nice to be ahead. On Saturday I'm supposed to visit Saho's home and we're going to cook. Soon, too, Yukari (my speaking partner) and I plan to go to a hot spring resort, so that might happen this weekend. I'm not sure yet; I'm meeting with her tomorrow to plan things out. Actually, I ran into her at lunch today, which was nice because I haven't seen her in a month. Oops.

I have started working on a short paper for psych comparing translations of Vasubandhu's The Thirty Verses and analyzing their meaning. (Okay, if you just clicked on the link to the Verses, PLEASE don't read them. I mainly posted that to impress you with the utter dullness of this analysis. This is the kind of stuff I have to read: psychological treatises from the 4th century CE. Yuck.) Actually, the concepts are interesting once you get past the horrific tangle of language. And the paper is really short--like a page and a half--so it's really not too bad. Still, I'd rather not do it. But I got a very good start tonight, and I hope to finish it on Thursday.

Totally off-topic observation: Yesterday I saw my first Japanese earthworm. It was a nightcrawler on the road on the way to campus. It looked just like an American nightcrawler. I was surprised to see it, though, because with all the rain we've had so far here, there have been no worms but this one on the sidewalks. I wonder why? American worms flock to sidewalks in the rain. Maybe there just aren't as many here in Japan. There were a bunch of teeny slugs on the sidewalks one rainy day, but no worms. Interesting.

And now I have finally worn myself out after the long day, so I'm off to bed.

An unexpectedly good day, and a political rant

Today was one of those days that turns out to be ridiculously better than anticipated.

It was supposed to be rainy all day, but it didn't rain at all, though there were some threatening clouds. But really, they just made the sky pretty, so it was cool.

My writing test went very well, and I finished about twenty minutes early. I killed some time surfing around online until my speaking class, where I did well on a quiz and participated a lot. Then I had lunch and bought two more highlighters. Unfortunately, the store was out of my Choco Chippu.

Have I mentioned the highlighters yet? Our convenience store on campus sells these highlighters in all different shades. It's like Gelly Rolls from way back in grade school, really! But the super cool thing about them is that they're double-sided. One side is a thick marker, and the other is fine-tipped. So you can highlight AND write with the same highlighter. It's awesome.

I got a package in the mail today, which was exciting! It included some much-needed medicine, knee socks, and a cute card. Also, there was Erin's school picture, which is really, really good. She's so pretty. I have taped it up on my desk so I can see it. Even better, my stipend for food was deposited to my Japanese bank account today, so now I'm no longer eating into my savings for cup ramen. Yay!

Then, since it wasn't raining and I have no afternoon classes on Monday, I rode my bike to the QQ to pick up some more bread and eggs so I can make egg sandwiches. Those things are so delicious; they, along with Sachi's okonomiyaki, have been keeping me nourished. When I got home I studied a bit, ate a Snickers bar I had bought, then took a nap.

This evening I returned to campus to watch a showing of the VP debate. I walked, taking some pictures along the way. I'll post them when I have enough for another Everyday Life album. Regarding the debate, I have put my reactions at the end of this post, so you don't have to read my silly opinions if you don't want to. In any case it was fun, watching it in a room full of American college students. Of course, being American college students, practically everyone was pulling for Obama/Biden. I think everyone liked Palin, though, or was at least amused by her.

After the debate, I walked to Avail, a clothing store near the city library. They had some cute clothes there, and it's not nearly as expensive as the department stores. It seems, though, that overalls, denim, and flannel are coming back, in addition to the atrocious leggings. Yuck. Oh 1990, why have you come back to haunt us?

I went to Sachi for some okonomiyaki for supper, and took a shower. Also today, I have been on the biggest Free Cell winning streak ever. My win rate was 89% at one point this afternoon. Yay! All in all, it's been a good day.

And now for the political part of our story.
Disclaimer: I'm a raging Democrat, a bleeding-heart liberal with very little sense sometimes. I know this. I am sorry. I am young and naive. Don't hate me, conservative friends! It's just that time of my life. So please do excuse my left-wing slant. But hey, at least I know I'm not neutral, right?

I was very, very impressed with Biden, whom I knew nothing about and expected to be fairly dull. I found him surprisingly eloquent, forthright, and competent. Maybe eight years of George II has just dulled my brain cells, but it was refreshing to hear from someone who can construct and deliver more than one logical and grammatically correct statement in a single television appearance. He was consistantly able to quickly and clearly explain his positions, and his deep knowledge of the political process and current affairs was evident. I thought Biden seemed like a confident statesman, as well as a genuine guy. This will sound heartless, but when he got choked up talking about his family's car crash it was a really good humanizing touch. I like him a lot, and I'm very glad Obama picked him. It think he would make a great VP, or prez, for that matter. God forbid something should happen to Obama.

I found Palin surprisingly affable, too. Her nasally accent irked me, but for someone so new to the national political arena I thought she was relatively impressive on the whole. Her arguments didn't hold a whole lot of water with me, and she didn't have the facts or confident delivery of Biden. Still, she seemed like a normal person, which I liked. Biden's references to recent history and international relations were impressive, but I really do respect Palin's ability to stand before the nation and state that her personal experiences as a businessperson, state-level politician, and run-of-the-mill woman do, in fact, give her some qualifications to be vice-president of the United States. It's brave, and I like it.

But there were a couple of things that were just embarrassing. All the folksy sayings ("betcha," "heck," etc.) were okay at first, but after a while they really started to grate on me. You all know I love regional language variation, but I felt like she was really pulling the "I'm so down-home!" card way, way too much. There's a time and a place for a moderate amount of regionalism, but I really feel like she beat me over the head with an Alaska stick. Plus there was noo-kyoo-lur. ::shudder:: And can we please get this woman a thesaurus? By the end of the debate, everyone in the room was laughing each time she said the word "maverick." Finest cringe-inducing statement of the day? "I'm so encouraged to know that we both love Israel." ("Wow, Governor Palin, me too! Let's be BFFs, okay? I'll even make you an 'I love Israel' locker sign.") And, um, McClellan was associated with the US Civil War, not Afghanistan.

Plus, the GLBTQetc rights activist in me really took exception to her repeated use of the word "tolerance" when referring to the rights of same-sex couples and marriages. I get what she was trying to say, but I find it strange that the possible future VP of the United States would repeatedly say that she can "tolerate" a portion of the American population. The sentiment was there, I think, but I had hoped that she, as someone who could be second in command in AMERICA, would know that "tolerance" is something of a controversial word in the alphabet/ally community. Once would have been okay, but she said it like three or four times. Could we not use "acceptance" for one of those times? "Embrace"? Something that implies feelings warmer than apathy?

Plus, Governor, please do try to stay on topic, ne? How many times can we talk about Alaska drilling and energy independence when the question was originally about string cheese and marmosets? Really, Palin, Gwen Ifill is asking you things; she's kind of a big deal, and I wouldn't want to upset her by NOT ANSWERING THE DAMN QUESTION. It really bothered me how much she dodged. Biden's concise responses might not have been all that great in reality, but compared to Palin's off topic rants they were downright beautiful.

Okay, now I know this is going to sound super shallow, but bear with me--I really like her look. She's someone whose appearance makes her seem qualified for the job she's seeking. I know I probably noticed this because she's a woman and we tend to judge women on looks rather than accomplishments or whatever, so I'm sorry. But really, she looks like a veep, I think. She's not someone I'd want to mess around with, but she comes off as very pleasant in general. Biden? Meh, he looks like a senator or an ambassador, I think. Kinda generic. And I didn't like how thin his tie knot was.

According to the BBC's fact checker, Biden was much more accurate overall in his claims, although not perfect. Not surprising for me; he spoke with authority, though Palin's performance was direct. It was interesting: she just seemed so rehearsed at times, but then she'd veer off on the folksy thing. It was like watching a child sounding out words slowly and then coming across a word she recognized and shouting it really loud. ("Blah blah blah ENERGY blah OIL blah blah MAVERICK blah DANG IT.") Her closing, especially, was awkward. How fast can we go from obviously mechanically memorized to obviously dangerously off the cuff?

Overall, I think Palin did well. She could have been a disaster and she wasn't. She was quite good for a newcomer, but she is obviously a newcomer. She comes off as a mayor or a state senator in her delivery, though her looks are more VPish than Biden's. And I know that one of you out there is thinking, "Well, let's see you do better." To that I say, "Not my job. I'm not running for VP; she is. Criticize me all you want if I ever run for public office."

I'm going to give the win to Biden by quite a margin.

Biden's strengths:

• Ability to clearly explain platform
• Staying on topic
• Appropriate use of anecdotal evidence
• Sincerity, genuineness
• Confidence, enthusiasm of delivery
• Use of facts and figures for evidence
• Solidarity with Obama, yet distinction from him when needed
• Eloquent yet easy style

He didn't do so well on:

• Exciting
• Going after Palin (he focused more on McCain)

Palin's strenghts:

• Personality
• Fierce loyalty to McCain
• Guts
• Knowledge of energy problems and policies

She didn't do so well on:

• Eloquence, confidence
• Timing
• Situationally appropriate use of the English language
• Staying on topic
• Consistency of delivery styles and content
• Knowledge of general data and paradigms
• McCain this, McCain that--support for him was good, but I thought she overdid it
• Anything dealing with foreign policy

The Post about Nothing!

Today was so uneventful that I actually almost forgot to blog.

Got up late, Skyped and IMed with people, made some curry for lunch, cleaned the room, napped, made supper, showered, studied. That's about it. It was really rainy and dreary today, so everyone who could stayed inside. It was a pajama type day.

Umm, tomorrow I have my writing test using the square paper. I think it should go well. Also, in the evening, they're showing a broadcast of the VP debate on campus, so I'll go see that. And that's about all.

Oh, a few other things I've been meaning to mention:

• There is kudzu here. Not surprising, considering I had always heard it was introduced from Japan. It's true. Apparently, though, it's not so much of a pest here, and it's even used in some foods. It covers the slopes of riverbanks in the area, mostly.
• Rather than crows, there are ravens here. They're really big and have raspy voices. Being a Poe fan, I'm always excited to see them.

That's all I've got for today. Wish me luck on a better post tomorrow.

Momoko's Bunkasai

I woke up a little before 9AM today (I know, it's a Saturday, but my sleep schedule is so old person-like here!) and did my laundry while having a Skype date with David and eating my breakfast of champions: Oreos and a Coke. I wanted to get the laundry done in the morning, because I planned to be quite busy in the afternoon. That made me not have much time to talk to poor David who is still recovering from being sick, which was lousy. But it's always nice to chat, even for a little while.

At about 10:45 I caught the bus to Hirakatashi-eki. I go there so often; it's starting to get annoying, really. (By the way, Hirakata is the name of the city where I live; "shi" means "city;" "eki" means "station"--Hirakata City Station.) Anyhow, I met up with William there after we spent about ten minutes trying to find each other in the maze that is the station area. We hopped on a local train to Murano to get to Momoko's school's culture festival.

I had been looking forward to this thing all week. Culture festivals are a big thing here in Japan; they seem to be a lot like our church picnics in Louisville. In all kinds of anime and manga about high schools and middle schools, the series often have episodes involving culture festivals. If you've read Hana-Kimi (Erin, remember the boys in the artsy dorm who dressed up as girls and put on the play?) or Ouran High School Host Club, you know what I'm talking about. In any case, this was not at all a touristy thing to do, but rather very Japanese. I was pretty proud of myself for having obtained a ticket. Momoko was very thoughtful to give them to us.

Anyhow, we walked through this really beautiful neighborhood of traditional Japanese houses and narrow streets to get to the school. I'm amazed at the system of streets here. Neighborhoods are very hilly with homes set close together, so it reminds me a lot of pictures I've seen of Portugal and Italy much more than my image of Japan.

Photos from the Culture Festival

We arrived at the school a few minutes early and had to stand in a long line to get in. After you presented your ticket to the security guard (!) you could wander around the school grounds and look at all the booths. The booths in the main courtyard were run by students in teams, and each one sold a different sort of food. It was hot, so William and I stopped at the sno-cone booth and got some shaved ice. I was surprised how cheap everything was; I got a bowl of strawberry shaved ice for 50yen, or about 45 cents. Shaved ice is a popular snack at tourist spots, and it usually costs about $3! Pretty good deal. Well, maybe not, considering I spent money on sugar and water. But still, I love my bargains.

Anyway, we walked around the main courtyard and checked out all the food stalls. There were hamburgers, okonomiyaki, Baskin-Robbins ice cream, tamasen (seems to be some sort of egg and sweet sandwich, but I'm not sure), okonomiyaki, bebii taiyaki (little fish-shaped cookies with sweet bean paste inside) cotton candy, ice cream sundaes, etc. It seems that fair food is fried and portable all around the world. ^_^ No deep-fried Twinkies, though. That's probably an atrocity/delicacy confined to Kentucky.

We also were able to go into the main school building. The tickets had requested that you bring slippers to wear inside the school, because outdoor shoes aren't allowed. Right at the main entrance, all the students had small lockers that they use to store their shoes in every day. So we changed into the slippers we brought (I was glad I could read that portion of the ticket!) and went inside.

Most of the rooms had different displays or activities going on. We spiraled up the maybe five stories of the school, which looked very much like an American school. The classrooms had chalk boards and all the usual classroomy things. But there was a small central courtyard that all the classrooms circled around, which I thought was cool, though there was a creepy bronze statue in it. Also, the bathroom I went into had no Western-style toilets. That's fine, I guess, but it was a little tricky. But now I can use a squat toilet when I'm wearing jeans. It's a good skill to have, I suppose.

The activities were really varied. We watched performances of old Japanese folktales, saw displays of student artwork, played some carnival games, etc. It was all very elaborate; I wonder how long they have been planning this thing. Lots of fun, though. All the students were really enthusiastic, too. Many of them, especially the boys, were wearing silly costumes. I saw a big pink bunny, Elmo, Santa Claus, and a cow, along with several really ugly girls who were boys in disguise. ;-) The students were standing outside the classrooms where they were stationed and hawking whatever if was they had inside. It was a lot of fun, and very lively. I had a blast.

After spending about two hours checking out the festival, William and I were tired and decided to leave. On the way out, I stopped to use a vending machine. Most vending machines here are very like American ones, although they're absolutely everywhere! But this one, like some of them in Japan, dispensed soft drinks in cups with ice. It was a little confusing, but I watched a Japanese kid do it and decided I could too. You just put your money in and the cup drops down and fills automatically; I was afraid I'd have to push a button or something. Anyhow, I had a nice cup of orange Fanta, and we were on our way.

I was way too tired to do much of anything else, so I grabbed some okonomiyaki to go at Hirakatashi-eki, took the bus home, at the lunch (which was so-so; Sachi has me spoiled with excellent okonomiyaki, I think), folded my now-dry laundry, and took a nap. For supper this evening I made another egg sandwich.

I was supposed to meet William and some other people at 8PM for karaoke, but no one showed up. Norman, Kei, Yusuke, and Shoko came at about 8:30, so I think I just had the time wrong. We thought William was supposed to come at 8:30 too, but we waited until 9 and he still hadn't shown up, so we went without him. Oops. I hope everything was okay.

So we walked our bikes to Big Wave Karaoke in Makino, the place where we always go. My group wanted to do three hours, which I think is way too long, so I decided I wouldn't stay the whole time. There were three nihonjin and three gaijin, so we sang a lot more Japanese songs than I had before. I actually picked out and sang 明日があるさ ("Ashita ga Aru Sa"), a very fun song that we learned it in my Japanese 212 class this spring. The beginning is really similar to the Candy Mountain Song in Charlie the Unicorn, too. Maybe that's why I like it so much. Also, I completely rocked "Part of Your World." It was a good night, and very tame. After an hour and a lot of fun, I left, stopping at McDonald's on the way home for a snack.

When I was waiting for the karaoke group in the evening, I had been looking at a tour book and found a really nice day trip for tomorrow; I was thinking of going to Kyoto to see the national museum and a temple. I've changed my mind, though. It's late right now--2:30AM--and I'm tired of going to Hirakatashi-eki. I think tomorrow I'll stay in and chill. It'll be nice, and, as the song says, "ashita ga aru"--there's always tomorrow. Some other time.

Finer points of grammar. Plus, I'm legal!

In speaking class today, we started studying extra-modest expressions. Let me explain a little for those of you who haven't had to deal with the intricate horror that is keigo. Really, I shouldn't say that; it's a neat concept, when you think about it, and it's a way to really make yourself look like you're really good at Japanese!

Depending on the social situation, sometimes you use a kind of language called sonkeigo, or respectful language. These are verbs or nouns that just carry more politeness with them. So instead of saying "neru" for "to sleep," you say "oyasumi ni naru." It's a lot of memorization, but it's a way to show respect to someone higher than you. If I'm talking to a friend about my boss, for instance, I'd use these respectful words to explain how my esteemed boss has a delightful home.

That's the easy part.

There are also humble expressions, which humble your own generous actions and elevate the status of a third party.

Then come the extra-modest expressions, which are used to demote yourself in the eyes of your listeners. So instead of saying "Tomasu to iimasu," or "I am called Thomas," you would say "Tomasu to moushimasu," or something a bit like "I humbly go by Thomas." Okay, that seems fine; you want to elevate other people and be modest about yourself.

But you have to be careful with extra-modest expressions, because if you use them in their most basic, unconjugated form, it sounds really, really archaic. Sensei actually had the following sentence on her Powerpoint presentation today: "The only people in the world who can use the short form of extra-modest expressions are SAMURAI." Apparently in samurai films they use this form, but that's the only time you ever see it. "If you use these forms wrong, people will laugh at you really hard," she said. Saying something like "Ocha de gozaru to omoimasu" would be like trying to go around saying things like, "Should it please my lady" or some weird medieval sounding stuff. So, Corinne, now I can tell you why Kenshin says "this one" and "de gozaru," and why it's so strange--it's really old samurai Japanese!

Keigo is interesting; because it's very complicated, many Japanese people aren't very good at it. It's considered something of an advanced technique, and they don't really expect foreigners to know anything about it. Native speakers usually don't start to use it until they graduate from college, and there are special adult enrichment classes on practicing your keigo. So if you're a foreigner and you throw in a nice keigo phrase at the right time, you'll really impress someone! That's what I was trying to do with my home visit family when they laughed at me (I said "moushimasu" instead of "iimasu." Oops.), but it backfired. So it's tricky, but that makes it fun, too. It's just bothersome to have to remember three different verbs for the same action.

We have it in English, though, too, although it's not as formalized. I mean, check out this progression (sorry for the vulgarity):

• I am going to use the restroom.
• I am going to go to the bathroom.
• I'm going to the bathroom.
• I'm gonna take a crap.

But enough about obscure grammar points.

I got my test back from yesterday; I got an A on it, and Sensei even put a cute little rabbit stamp on it. I love stamps, stickers, and swirls of approval. They make me so happy. (A circle means "correct" in Japan and an X means "incorrect," and if you get a whole section correct, the teacher will draw a big spiral swirl on the good section to show that it's all right. I call it the swirl of approval. It's encouraging.)

Afterward I had lunch with Saho, my homevisit friend, at the cafeteria, which was a lot of fun. Sometimes I have trouble understanding her; I don't know if she mumbles or speaks quickly or has a strong regional accent, or if I just don't have the listening skills I thought I do. Overall, though, we did really well. Once or twice we got totally lost, but that's not bad for an hour of talking, I think.

I do love my art history class. The professor is a really good lecturer, so it's easy to take good notes, which makes me feel accomplished. Also, I have bought these handy-dandy highlighters with one thick end and one thin end, so it's easy to make my notes both informative and pretty! I love it. It's silly, I know, but just being able to underline a new topic in color makes me feel so much more organized.

In Japan in Western Film and Lit, we talked some about Lafcadio Hearn, who is a very interesting historical figure. If you don't know about him, definitely check him out. He was a fascinating early interpreter of Japan. We also started to watch a German movie called Enlightenment Guaranteed, in which two men get horribly lost in downtown Tokyo. At least, that's all that's happened so far, really; I think it gets more complicated. But I actually really like it, except it's kinda depressing. We'll see how it turns out.

After classes, I happened to run into Saho on the way to the bus stop, so we rode together to Hirakatashi-Eki. The bus was so crowded! You know the train stuffers? There were bus stuffers. Very cool. All the Kansai Gaidai students, apparently, finish up at about the same time and make a mass exodus to the bus stop after class, so we were herded into line and onto one of the many buses going downtown. It was kinda funny, but very efficient. I took picutres of the stuffed bus, so you can see later. That was probably really weird for the Japanese people, but I thought it was interesting that it was so packed.

When I arrived downtown, I parted ways with Saho and headed off to the city hall to pick up my gaijin card, which I applied for several weeks ago. Gaijin is short for 外国人 (gai koku jin), which literally means "outside country person," or foreigner. If you're staying in Japan for longer than 90 days or something, you have to officially register with the city you're staying in, and they issue you something that looks like a driver's license. When you leave the country, you leave your gaijin card at the airport. I'm not quite sure what the purpose of it is, because it doesn't cost anything to obtain a card; I guess they just want to know who's where. And now I'm an official, card-carrying gaijin. I'm legal!

After that I just kinda wandered around the downtown Hirakata area. There are all kinds of stores and restaurants around the station there. I went into a bookstore and bought an old Backstreet Boys CD for about $2.50.

Then I stopped at the KFC next door for an early supper. There was a statue of Colonel Sanders out front, which was cool. I should have taken a picture with him. They were playing American country music inside, which I thought was a little funny. The food is all the same idea, although there are more sandwich options than chicken bucket options. I had a チキンフィレサンドライトセット (chikin fire sando raito setto), or a Chicken Filet Sandwich Meal, Light. It was a Coke (which is interesting, because in the US Yum!Brands uses Pepsi), fries, and a breaded chicken filet on a bun with mayo and lettuce. The sandwich was really tasty, actually.

I then looked around some of the shops in the area. In the Family Mart, which is just a normal convenience store, I was surprised to discover that they were selling perfume. Probably not really high quality stuff, if I had to guess, but still. Different from home, right?

I went into Kiddy Land, which is the best place ever! It wasn't exactly what I'd call a toy store, although they did have toys. Basically, it was a store full of anything with a ridiculously adorable cartoon character. There was even a calendar of Kapibara-san--Mr. Capybara! What a cool idea for a character. Some stuff here is just so overwhelmingly cute. Anyway, they sold a lot of socks, stickers, calendars, and lunchboxes. It was really cool.

I found a store that had some really cute clothes, but everything was really expensive. It'll be about $50 for a basic tunic, at least. Then you've got to get the scarf and leggings to go with it. Some of the clothes are really beautiful, but I'm afraid that when I go back home, they'll look ridiculous and out of style with whatever people are wearing in the states. This stuff is just so super-trendy. So I look like a loser compared to all the cute Japanese girls here, but I'll look like a freak model if I wear this kind of thing at home. Anyway, I don't want to drop that much money on clothes this early in the semester; I've still got 77 days here, and I'm going to need to eat. I suppose I'll just be dorky until about December, and then I'll invest in a nice outfit if I have the funds.

I went around a standard train station department store, which was a lot of fun. Japanese department stores are very, very different from American ones. For one thing, the ground floor is a grocery. You wouldn't belive the pastry counters, butcher counters, fresh fish counters, vegetable stands, etc. It's very market-like, actually, because there are so many employees asking if you need help picking out a good squid or whatever. I love the food here, but sometimes the seafood counters gross me out a bit. The smell is always really strong, and I have seen parts of fish I didn't know existed. Yuck. The next floor was more what I'm used to in department stores: perfume counters, clothing, accessories, makeup. I'm pretty sure there's a lot more to this particular department store, but I didn't go everywhere in it. Usually there are also some restaurants, and I didn't even begin to see the housewares.

Then I was getting tired from the long day, so I took the bus back to school and rode my bike home. My knees are really bothering me today, so it was kinda painful; sometimes my meds make my joints hurt a lot. But after a nice warm shower, here I am. Hmm, that sandwich this afternoon was good, but it's not going to hold me over. Maybe I'll go make myself a snack.

Tomorrow is Momoko's culture festival. I can't wait to go! I'll let you know how it is.

Square paper, a planner, and fishing, among other things

The weather today was absolutely gorgeous. I keep saying that, I think, in my recent entries, but really, it's completely beautiful outside. Nice and crisp and clear and breezy. The leaves are continuing to turn colors, although they're definitely mostly still green. The marigolds are blooming beautifully, and I can't wait for the mums to start going. I do love fall.

I've been meaning to mention this for a while, but I keep forgetting: I haven't seen Diet Coke here. There's Coke Zero sometimes, but I have not found a single diet soft drink, not even at McDonalds's, not even in grocery stores. Good thing I drink regular. And there's not much Pepsi, but you do see it every once in a while in a grocery or vending machine. Heckyes for Coca-Cola Classic!

Also, bread is sold a bit differently here. First, it comes in smaller quantities; you buy it in increments of four or six or ten slices, somthing like that. Each slice is very thick compared to what I'm used to, though. An eight-slice bag of bread is about the size of half of an American loaf. I like that very much, because I'm a carbohydrate fiend. And come to think of it, I haven't seen sliced wheat bread, that I've noticed. But I don't like wheat bread much, so it doesn't surprise me that a lack of it hasn't struck me until now.

This morning in my reading/writing class we got the instructions for our first essay test, which will be on Monday. I'm actually very excited about it. For one thing, we get to prepare for it completely: Sensei already gave us the topic (our daily lives in either Japan or our home country), and we're allowed to bring a list of vocab words and a dictionary to use during the test! Really, that sounds suspiciously like cheating, but who am I to complain? It's all in accordance with university policy, too. Sweet! What I think is really cool, though, is the format. We'll be using 原稿用紙, or genkyōyōshi, a special kind of paper where each character goes into one single box. It makes your writing look really nice, although there are a lot of nitpicky rules about formatting. I really like both crossword puzzles and ridiculously detailed formatting, so I'm pretty pumped about it! Basically I have 400 boxes to fill with punctuation, phonetic characters, and Chinese-based characters to write an essay about myself. It should be cool, actually.

In speaking class today we had a test over the last two chapters; the main points were transitive/intransitive verbs and honorific language. I think I did really, really well, except for the first listening section, which was so-so. Overall, a very good test.

During my lunch break I got to chat online with Stephanie, David's sister, for a while, which was really nice. She's so much fun. I also requested my absentee ballot from the county clerk's office. I hope it arrives in time; the last day they accept the ballots is at the end of October, and I'm still not sure exactly how long mail takes to get back and forth from home.

Also, I went to the campus bookstore and finally bought myself a planner. They didn't have any 2008 ones, so I bought a really cute 2009 one and went through and changed the dates. I had thought I was just buying a small scheduler, but when I opened it up, there was so much great stuff in there! Stickers, monthly calendars, note pages, an address book--even maps of the subway and train lines in Tokyo and Osaka! Best planner ever, and completely adorable. It has these characters named Kiki and Lala, who I had never seen before, but they were created by Sanrio (the Hello Kitty people) in the 70s, so they're probably pretty famous over here. Some of you will probably be getting planners like this one as souvenirs!

Asian Psychologies made a lot of sense today, which was good. I now feel much more confident about the short paper I have to write for that class in a few weeks.

On the way home from school, I stopped to have a snack at the little park and shrine near my dorm. I just sat on the bench, had a drink, and ate some Choco-chippu. Rude, probably, snacking in public like that, but I enjoyed it. This pigeon came right up to me and looked at me. I think he wanted a Choco-chippu, but I wasn't sharing. It was nice to sit there and chill and get my brand new super-cute planner in order.

I also took a nice nap this afternoon, and for supper I made one of Dad's egg sandwiches. It was delicious! That's one meal that I can definitely rely on, an egg sandwich. Even I can make toast and fry an egg. Yum.

David, you know how 2nd floor of Polis hated you last year because you walk so loudly? Haha, I thought of you this evening. I hadn't noticed it, but this guy who was cooking while I was eating my supper was apparently stomping about the kitchen, because our house mother came upstairs and asked him to walk more quietly! ^_^

Oh, and during supper I watched this TV show where these guys went deep sea fishing. They just showed them trying to get the fish, and it was really entertaining. American fishing shows are cool, I think, but this was cool in a different way. The fishing guys were these young guys who were very energetic and funny, and there were subtitles in Japanese, which helped me understand what was going on. I think the show might be kind of akin to our Dirty Jobs, because after the deep sea fishing segment, a different guy went diving for sazae (a kind of shellfish), and later a guy was walking a miniature horse. Not quite sure what that was about, but oh well.

And tonight I had the most fabulous shower. I really, really like this new soap, actually. It's a funny thing to enjoy so much, but it smells really good and the bubbles are fantastic. Definitely worth the hunt to find it, and I'll probably bring a bar or two back home with me if I can find it again. Geez, I'm so weird....

One Month Down

Oh my goodness, everyone, I have been out of the States for a full month now, and I'm still alive. I'm so proud of me!!! YAY!

Today, though, one of my friends, April, left the program here. I'm not sure why; she's very quiet and doesn't like to discuss personal things, but she left today to go back home to New York. It was sad. I'm going to miss her. We went out to eat a lot, and she was a blast at karaoke. I think we'll be able to keep in touch online, though.

I keep having dreams about playing basketball for Our Mother of Sorrows (my grade school, for those who don't know). What a strange thing to dream about, especially considering I didn't particularly enjoy it, and I haven't played since the eighth grade. But the other night I dreamt that I was managing the OMOS team with all my other teammates on it. Then I had another dream about being at basketball practice. Sara, Donna, and Tommy were there. Blast from the past, right?! How strange. I wonder what it means.

According to the weather forecast on the Internet, today was supposed to be rainy, but the weather became nice. (I just realized that I can write that whole previous sentence in Japanese! Yay! Let me try... インターネットの天気予報によると今日雨がふるはずでしたが、いい天気になりました。Look at those nihongo no skillz!) It was sunny, breezy, and pleasantly cool, which made all my biking nice. Good thing, too, because on Wednesdays I go to campus for an hour, come back home to Skype, and return for an afternoon class and lunch.

Speaking of Skype, David is sick, which makes me sad. ;_; Get well soon! Probably exerted himself too much becoming a lion, or caught a bug from eating a zebra. But Nikki's television interview seems to have gone really well, and I can't wait to see the footage! Haha, she had to talk about atom transport at 5AM on live TV. And my family seems to be doing well; we have found a good used car that we're going to get because our green car is devolving from "car with character and spunk" to "questionable ride" pretty quickly.

I realized this evening that I have a library book that was due today. Oops; I'll turn it in tomorrow. Let's see, tomorrow I have a test over chapters 18 and 19 in my Japanese speaking class; it shouldn't really be a problem, especially because we already did these chapters at Witt. Also, I'm supposed to have lunch tomorrow with Saho, my homevisit friend.

Oh, and today I didn't have nearly the bike trouble I had yesterday. The parking area was very crowded so getting out took some maneuvering, but it was not rainy and there was no Rude Bicycle getting in my way with its obnoxious smallness. So that was good. Because if I ever see Rude Bicyle again, somebody's gonna get hurt...just kidding. I think. Unless he blocks me in again, in which case Rude Bicycle will be Dead Bicycle. ^_^

Um, that's about it, I think. I know this was a much less organized entry than I usually do, but today would not be very exciting to write about linearly. Not that this is probably the most fascinating thing in the world, either.

Park your ridiculously small bike somewhere else, for Pete's sake!

Last night I dreamt that David and I were talking in Japanese. That was pretty cool.

Today was long. It was dreary and rainy again, so I've been sleepy all day. This morning I had my speaking class, which went well, as usual. Then I had some delicious udon for lunch, and went to my writing/reading class, where I kicked a quiz's butt.

Next was Asian Psychologies. I'm still not sure about that class. We've moved on from yogic psych to Buddhist psych, which I find much more understandable. Part of my problem with the yogic system is that I just don't know that much about Hinduism and traditional yogic worldviews. That, and all the Sanskrit vocabulary was making me dizzy. I know something, at least, of Buddhism, and this makes more sense to me. It's one of those classes where there's so very much information that the professor could reasonably ask us to know, but he seems to be more interested in general themes. I'm not really sure what to concentrate on when I study. We shall see.

After that was Japan in Western Film and Literature. I really, really like that class. Sometimes it's a little bit horrifying because it makes me realize how skewed my view of the world is, and sometimes it's just amusing. Today we talked about Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado. Where to start?! Such a strange little opera. It's interesting, Gilbert and Sullivan were really determined to make the set, props, and costumes as accurate to real Japanese things as possible, but the rest of the play is totally irrelevant to Japan. Couldn't they at least have used some Japanese names? I mean, really--Yum-Yum? Nanki-Poo? But it's a satire, and the only real ill-will, I think, is aimed at the English. And, as the professor pointed out, it's perfectly acceptable today to take real-world problems and transfer them to futuristic space settings, like in Star Trek; Gilbert and Sullivan were merely doing the same thing with the "space aliens" of their day--the Japanese. An interesting point. If nothing else, it's an entertaining little piece of work.

Today I also did some work in the language lab, and I found a bar of soap in the 7Eleven near school.

Coming home was frustrating. Another student had smushed his bicycle right up against mine, so I had a lot of trouble wiggling mine out of the parking area without knocking all the other bikes over. My little basket kept getting caught on Rude Bycyle's teeny handles (it was one of those almost BMX-y sports bikes that sit so close to the ground that the tough boys here ride). I had to do this in the rain while fumbling to find my key in my already soaked school bag to unlock my bike, as well as keep all my books and the bicycle seat dry, and turn on my bike safety light. I was not a happy camper. And Rude Bicycle had a very impractical kick stand, to make it all worse, so in addition to extracting my bike from the tangle caused by its inordinate smallness, I had to keep Rude Bicycle supported the whole time. It was really, disproportionately aggravating, but I'm okay now. Not that big of a deal in the grand scheme of things.

And that's about it for the day. I'm heading to bed early tonight, I think. Just not a whole lot to do, and sleep sounds fabulous.

Rain and Momoko

Today was miserably rainy and cool. It was around 60 with a constant slow rain; very dreary. I rode my bike to school in the rain, wearing my hooded jacket and carrying an umbrella. The umbrella will really throw you off balance easily, so it took longer than usual to reach campus. I was pretty wet when I arrived, too. I went to writing class, did some homework, and went to speaking class. Since I missed the short vocab quiz in speaking on Friday, I talked to the teacher, and she said I could come to her office in the afternoon and make it up. That was great, but I had already made arrangements to talk to David on Skype, so it meant more biking in the rain. I grabbed some McDonald's to go, pedaled home in the drizzle, and Skyped for quite a while.

It was really nice getting to talk to David; everything at Witt seems to be going well. Beta had a great Greek Week, and even had a fantastic dance interpretation of The Lion King! Simba, the guy in the yellow t-shirt over black, is David. I'm so proud of him and all the other guys! It was such a success. I wish I could have been there to see it.

After a really nice Skype date, I had to go back to campus (again in the rain) for my makeup quiz. Not a big deal; I took it in Sakakibara-sensei's office. As I was leaving, she asked me about my home school, and when I said it is Witt, she asked about Imai-sensei! It turns out they are friends. Sensei, if you're reading this, Sakakibara-sensei says hello. I'm really enjoying her class! Anyway, after that little surprise, I did some language lab homework and went back home for a nap.

In the evening I was wondering what to do about supper, when I had a novel idea: go eat at the school cafeteria. Why haven't I done that for supper before? It's so cheap and delicious! So anyway, I got back on my trusty bike, rode to school in the rain for the third time in a day, and had some kakesoba and rice for supper as I did some of my homework.

At 8:00 I was supposed to meet my friend Momoko in the park. So I rode my bike there, and was wondering what to do about the rain, when her dad came and told me that she was in the car. So we drove to their house, which is close to the Sanko grocery store, and hung out there. It was such a cozy little house. I think they're kinda rich; like I said, I don't really read social class cues here well, but a Mercedes with leather interior and a TV in it implies some money, I think. No matter, really. I'm just trying to get my cultural bearings. Her mother had set out some little fruits and snacks for us, and I had my first persimmon, which was delicious. Momoko, her mother, her father, and I just sat around the dinner table and snacked, while Momoko made a nice map of how to get to her school. She has invited me to its bunkasai, or cultural festival, this weekend. She will be selling taiyaki, little fish-shaped sweets. She also showed me many pictures of her time over the summer in Tennessee. It was nice, really, to see pictures of Americans! Her parents were very interested in the US; they were surprised to hear that we like tacos and there are a lot of Mexican immigrants, and they were excited that I know what Costco is. They asked me what Japanese foods I like, and they have invited me over to learn how to make okonomiyaki for myself! I'm very excited. The family was so very sweet; I really like these people. We were able to really understand each other very well, too, which was nice! Momoko helped fill in the blanks for both languages.

After that, they drove me back home, I showered, and here I am. All in all, it was a very good day. And now I'm super pumped about the culture festival this weekend, too! I can't wait to see what it's like.

Oh, and Momoko mentioned that a typhoon is coming. I guess that explains the rain. Sure enough, when I look at a weather map, it looks like Typhoon Jangmi is headed this way, and we should be getting the proper typhoon rain tomorrow.

Eric, I hear that you thought it was funny that I was excited before about having a typhoon. Well, you were right, I was wrong--they can be pretty lousy when you have to ride a bike in their rain and wind! You should be a meteorologist when you grow up so you can tell silly kids like me to stay out of bad weather. ^_^

Fun fact: "To skip class (deliberately)" in Japanese is "saboru." The "sabo" part is a shortening of "sabotage." How cool! Kinda makes you not want to skip class ever again; when you think about it, though, you really are sabotaging your education. Makes sense, I guess. I thought it was interesting.

Uji Trip Photos

Photobucket Album

Uji Trip

As planned, today I got up early and went to Uji. The commute there was really nice, actually. It was a cool, overcast fall day, and very pleasant. At the bus stop in front of the library I had a really nice conversation with an older woman who was also waiting for the bus. I did really well understanding her, at least by my standards. She was very nice.

I was traveling alone. I like going places in groups, of course, but today I wanted time to explore on my own. I go at a weird pace because I take pictures of lots of strange things like mossy stones and caterpillars, and I often skim over the really important bits of places. I'm not the best traveling companion unless you're a very patient or very eccentric person. ^_^ But Uji is nearby, and the directions were clear, so I was happy to go alone. Also, it allowed me to interact more with the Japanese people around me than I would have in a group of foreigners. They are much more willing to approach me, and I them, if I'm not surrounded by a buffer of six other Americans.

The bus arrived, and at the next stop this Sweet Lolita girl and a woman who seemed to be her mother boarded the bus. I wanted to take a picture of the girl; she was really cute, though of course very over-the-top. She was wearing a white lace headband, a puffy light pink dress, lacy knee socks, white patent leather shoes, and carrying a white patent leather purse with a big bow on it, as well as a delicate white lace parasol. Most interesting, though, were her fingernails. I have never seen a more inconvenient set of nails in my life, and I have been shopping at Winn-Dixie, thank you very much, where three-inch-long neon nails seemed to be all the rage among the checkout ladies in the 1990s. She had what looked like those little sugar cake decorations pasted onto each fingernail. Smiley faces, pink pearls, little cupcakes--all miniature statues, about a centimeter high, right there on her fingernails. They made her very clumsy, but I guess it's all part of the look; not my thing, but it was cool to see. I wonder where they were going.

Anyway, I got on the train just fine and reached Uji without incident. It's funny, it only cost me 340yen to get to Uji, but it cost almost six times as much to get to Himeji last week; I wonder why. Uji is closer, but really, not all that much closer. Oh well, who am I to complain about a good deal?

After coming out of the train station, I had to cross a really long bridge. The bridge is very important historically and culturally, apparently. It's one of the three oldest bridges in the country, and various websites seem to put its original construction at 646CE. It seems to have been the site of some battles, too, I think. But now it's just a really nice, wide bridge. The sidewalks are very safe, and the view is lovely. Check out the pictures to come.

After crossing the bridge I realized that this sightseeing trip was going to be different from my earlier trips; all the other tourists were Japanese. There were still some signs in English, but for the most part, Uji seems to be geared toward Japanese visitors. Really, this makes a lot of sense; Uji is most famous for being the setting of the final chapters of The Tale of Genji. This is a classic of world literature, often called the world's first novel, although it seems that not many people outside of Japan have read it, or even heard about it. It's ridiculously long--think two Count of Monte Cristos put together, with about four times the number of characters. This, at least is what I hear; I haven't actually read it. In any case, it's a very important book to Japan, so many Japanese people visit the Uji locations mentioned in it. Not many foreigners care. Hence, Uji is a city for local tourism.

At the far end of the bride was a really neat statue of Murasaki Shikibu, the author of Genji. There was a group of Japanese tourists hearing about it from a guide, and I kinda tried to listen in, but I couldn't understand anything. Then I tried to use the water fountain in front of the statue and failed miserable. I shot myself up the nose with water, and the nearby tour group laughed at me. It was pretty hilarious, and at that point I could do nothing but laugh along with them. Oops.

To reach Byodo-in, my first destination, I had to walk up a long street lined with shops selling tea leaves, hot tea, tea candy, tea ice cream, noodles in tea, tea rice, tea bowls, tea stirrers, etc. Uji, in addition to being known for Genji, is also famous for its production of tea. Again, this is something that the Japanese seem to be interested in, but foreigners not so much. Japanese tea is a very, very--how should I say it?--different beverage. It's an acquired taste, and I haven't acquired it. Another reason Uji is geared toward Japanese, I think.

I arrived at Byodo-in and paid my admission, and rather pretended that I understood more of the Japanese language instructions from the ticket lady than I actually did. But I gathered that my admission fee got me into the museum and the main grounds, although I'd have to pay extra to enter the famous Ho-o-do, or Phoenix Hall.

I entered the complex, and first took a left to a simple building that I thought had nothing in it, until I happened to wander around the back and discovered that it was a lovely little temple. Inside were two small replicas of the Phoenix Hall and a really beautiful wooden statue of some buddha or bodhisattva dating from the Heian Period (794-1185). I'm really terrible with my Buddhist iconography; I wish I could have figured out who it was. Photography wasn't allowed in the room, either, so I can't show you a picture. But it was a very moving statue, maybe four feet high, up on a platform. I liked it a lot.

Next I moved on to the path around the Phoenix Hall. It's a magnificent symmetrical building with a large reflecting pond in the front. Lots of great photo opportunities! I even used keigo (polite sentence constructions) to ask an old man to take my picture. It was pretty exciting. After walking around the outside, I went into the museum that houses a lot of the artifacts from the site. They didn't allow photos, unfortunately. But I watched a short informational film with English subtitles about the Phoenix Hall, and got to see some of the wood statues from the buildings, as well as a really cool temple bell. There was a replica of the same bell outside, so check out the pictures to see it. Also included were some of the statues of the 52 bodhisattvas who surround Amida Buddha in the Pure Land. Those were really cool. They were wall hangings, basically. Each bodhisattva carried a different musical instrument or attribute, and they were placed around the walls of the main room in the Phoenix Hall. Very, very cool.

After the museum portion, I visited some small shrine areas in the complex. I'm not sure if shrine is the right word; that implies Shinto, and Byodo-in is a Buddhist temple. But the lines blur easily between the two systems here, so I'm not sure it matters. In any case, there were some cool little things to look at. One building in particular housed a bunch of small stone statues, and had a brilliantly painted ceiling decorated with a dragon. It was really cool, but you weren't allowed to take pictures. For being a World Heritage Site, it sure seems that they don't want photos of this place to get out. I'm sure the flash would just damage the pigments or something, but still....

It was only noon at that point, and I had all day. So I decided I'd buy the extra ticket to enter the Phoenix Hall. But the next available time wasn't until 1:10 and I didn't want to hang around that long, so I decided to just skip it. Oh well. I'm not too disappointed. It would have been cool, but there had been a few reconstructions in the museum, so I got the gist of it.

I then left the Byodo-in and decided to do some souvenir shopping. I found a really cool shop that had a bunch of handmade textiles painted with scenes from Genji, and I bought a nice framed one. I like it a lot; it's the first souvenir I've bought for myself here. Kind of expensive--about $25--but definitely worth it. It's beautiful. I also bought a nice Kiyomizu-yaki tea cup for David, because he likes tea. Genji and tea, two Uji things. I did well, souvenir-wise. But I spent a little too much, and realized that if I was to make it home by train, I didn't have the money for lunch. Oops. Luckily I had brought some Oreos with me, so I munched on those to tide me over.

I walked up and down the Uji riverside, which is really pretty. I just love the mountains around there; it feels so secluded and peaceful. Earlier in the month, too, they had a cormorant fishing festival, and there were some photos up from that. It looks very cool; I wish I could have seen it. The river was very picturesque, with lots of little tour barges floating long with the current.

I found the tourist information center right next to the river, and there bought a ticket to the Municipal Tea House next door. I think it's so cool that Uji has a government-run tea house! How cool! So I got to sit through a proper tea ceremony. It was pretty interesting, although it went way over my head. I was there with a group of two other Americans, an older Japanese man and woman and their granddaughter, and a middle aged man in a suit. We chatted in English and Japanese beforehand, and it turns out that Suit is a politician. I didn't catch his name, but from the reactions of the people around me he is at least moderately important. He talked a bit to the other Americans (both poli-sci majors, they said) about politics, and said that he wants to become the Japanese Obama, because they're the same age. ^_^ I thought that was cool. He was very...politiciany. A bit overly-smiley, but pleasantly chatty. It was kinda cool. Granddaughter was a lot of fun to be in the room with, too. She was about nine years old, probably, and kinda wiggly. She kept whispering to me and fiddling around during the ceremony. It made me feel a little more relaxed. We spoke a little in English, which was fun. Her grandmother was the only one who really seemed to get into the cermonial aspects of the ceremony; she and the tea master chatted nicely, and I tried to follow her lead since she knew what she was doing. The grandfather was nondescript. The Americans were a little loud, but very nice, and their Japanese was good. It was a nice mix. I don't think I looked like a fool, at least.

After we were seated, the tea master brought us some little sweets made from tea. They were these little green squares of a consistency somewhere between Jello and fruit chewies, and you cut them into fourths with this sharp pointy stick, stabbed the pieces, and ate them. Like the other Japanese sweets I've had, it was pretty bland. Not at all bad, though. After the snack, the tea master's helper came out and bustled around doing something. He was probably about 17 years old, and totally adorable. He was wearing kimono and hakama, which I think is really cute on guys. ^_^ It made me smile. As he did some fiddling around with the various tea tools, the tea master served us. She was really cool, an older lady who seemed very gentle. She brought us the tea in bowls that you hold in your left hand and drink from. The tea itself is not what we think of as tea in America; it's the color of pea soup, and about that consistency. It was very, very hot and bitter, but I liked it much better than the tea I had at Crane House over the summer. Probably just a different kind. After the tea, the tea master removed the bowls and we chatted a little about the scroll on the wall. Then it was over. There was much bowing throughout the whole process. I think I said "arigatou gozaimasu" ("thank you") about forty times. It was pretty cool. Like I said, way over my head, but I still had fun.

Then I crossed the river to see if I could find some of the shrines I had heard about. On the way, I stumbled across a little temple called Hashi-dera, or Bridge Temple. It was built to ensure the safety of the bridge, and the sign said it held some of the oldest architectural stone fragments in Japan, from the original bridge. I went into the temple grounds, but I didn't see it. There were, however, some interesting little prayer areas. There was no signage in English, but it seems that the temple is used a lot for prayers for children. Check out the pictures; there were several statues surrounded by children's toys. I thought it was very funny, at first, to see a bodhisattva with a Winnie the Pooh at his feet. But then I thought about it and realized that we do the exact same thing in America; when a child dies we leave stuffed animals at the grave. It's the same thing. At this temple I also found another really big caterpillar, and I struck up a conversation with a woman and her young son about it. Again, she was so excited to see that I speak a little Japanese. I just can't get over how thrilled people are here that I can say anything. It's very encouraging!

After that temple, I continued up the road, passing a small shrine called Matafuri, I think. Something about a vengeful spirit in the story behind that one; I'm not really sure. I just stumbled upon it. Further up the road was yet another shrine, this one called Uji-jinja. It was fairly standard, but I was the only person there, which was kinda cool. Right next door to Uji-jinja is Ujigami-jinja, another World Heritage Site, so more crowded than Uji-jinja. The main hall of Ujigami-jinja is the oldest surviving Shinto worship hall. Pretty cool. The inside reminded me of an old American one room schoolhouse, actually. I enjoyed one of the surrounding sub-shrines much better, though. It seemed to have a bit of an animal theme. It was really secluded a bit up the hill, and there were these fox and cat statues around it. It was very, very peaceful and cool there. I sat for quite a while just resting. At that point I was ready leave.

I walked along the Uji riverside back to the train station, where I made my way home. On the way to Chushojima I wound up sitting across the aisle from the woman and her son I met at Hashi-dera, which was funny. By the time I got back home it was 4PM and I had 230yen on me--about $2. Cutting it close, right? I guess it was a very good thing I didn't pay the 300yen to go into the Phoenix Hall!

I was wiped out and hungry at that point, so I heated up some pizza toast that ended up being pretty bad, heated up some hash browns that ended up being pretty bad, and made some potstickers that also ended up being slightly burnt and pretty bad. Oh well. Lunch/supper of champions, right? Then I napped, showered, and wrote this ungodly long post. Can I go now? I really should probably include more detail for my own future benefit, but I'm tired and I'm sure you're bored with all my minutiae. So goodnight.

Ho-hum Saturday and Plans for Sunday

Today was a nice, slow weekend day. I actually woke up at about 8AM, but I planned to be on Skype by 9 anyway, so I just got up and chilled. Had some peanut butter on a baguette with apple juice for breakfast while I attempted to watch a news talk show. As far as I could tell, it was following the recent life of past prime minister Junichiro Koizumi. I was just proud that I could recognize him. Of course, I really only know who he is because be made that trip to Memphis a few years back and he loves Elvis.

Anyhow, I spent the morning on the computer, and decided to ride my bike around and explore in the afternoon. It was a beautiful fall day, sunny and a little bit cool, and the bike ride was great. I rode around a big condominium complex until I was pretty sure I was lost, but I made it out okay. After having some lunch I came back home and napped. Today was linen-changing day, so I got to use new sheets. It's nice, every ten days you can trade in your used sheets for clean new ones. Definitely saves on the laundry money.

For supper Kat and I went to (drumroll please) the okonomiyaki place around the corner. What a surprise, I know. As always, it was delicious. Oh, but on our way out the door, my former roommate (whose name I still don't know how to say or spell--it sounds like Shua or Sure or something, I dunno) came into the Seminar House in a wheelchair with her foot in a cast! Turns out she fell off a bike and had to go to the hospital. Her new roomie and good friend, Suika, is taking care of her, and she seems to be doing very well. :( I feel so sorry for her, though. Very tough.

This evening I was supposed to meet my friend Momoko in the park. I arrived early and waited for about fifteen minutes, but I couldn't find her. You can see from one end of the park to the other, so I'm not sure what happened. I got an email from her later saying that she was there too and couldn't find me. How strange. Oh well, she didn't seem angry or anything. I do feel really bad, though, for not being able to find her. But we're supposed to try again on Tuesday, and hopefully that'll work.

I had originally planned to just laze around tomorrow, too, but I decided in a fit of planning this afternoon that I need to get off my bum and do something. So in the morning I plan to go to the nearby small city of Uji. It's only about half an hour away by train, so not nearly as hardcore as the Himeji trip. When I'm there, I plan to visit the Byodo-in, a villa-turned-temple dating from the Heian Era, one of my favorite periods in Japanese history. Uji is also known for its production of tea, so I will stop at the municipal teahouse (how cool!) as well. It's supposed to be a cheap, good way to see a nice Japanese tea ceremony. All in all, I should be there for several hours, and I'm looking forward to taking my time and poking around. We shall see.

Osaka Aquarium Kaiyukan

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Observations, again

• Last night there was a man urinating in public. I have heard that this is not nearly as rude here as it is in the US. True? No? I dunno. It weirded me out, but then again I've probably freaked some people out by eating an ice cream walking down the street. It's just different.
• I have really no concept of social class here in Japan. I can't tell who's rich and who's not, which neighborhoods are upscale, which stores are cheap. It's very interesting. In the US it's fairly easy (alarmingly so, I know, because it's generally based on stereotypes which, we all know, are a Bad Thing) for me to tell a farmer from an office professional from a tradesperson from an unskilled worker. But here I have no idea. The cues from hairstyles and teeth and smoking and clothing types just aren't the same.
• I have seen a couple of American cars on the roads here, and they look so strange going down Japanese streets. Well, the Mustang wasn't so bad, but there was this hulking Ford truck coming down a narrow neighborhood street the other day, and I though sure it would flatten everything about it. It looked ridiculous.
• I cannot find bar soap. I can find dishwashing liquid, powdered laundry detergent, and soft hand soap, but I don't think I've found one bar of soap. This is strange, because I see soap holders everywhere in 100yen stores. I know it's out there, I just can't find it. And I'll be needing some soon, too. Better hurry.
• I see so many people doing small maintenance type jobs here. You wouldn't believe the teams of landscapers and trash collectors. They're absolutely everywhere. Going to class I often pass troops of about eight middle-aged gardeners trimming the hedges, using little scissors to keep trees neat, blowing the clippings off the sidewalks, etc. I guess that's what makes all the storefronts and gardens so tidy. I kind of have this attitude of "Don't they have anything better to do?" though. That's a bit disturbing. They wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't useful work to the society; I guess as an American I just don't quite value a manicured pine tree the same way they do in other cultures.
• The Japanese are notoriously proud of having four distinct seasons, which I used to find absurd. "Yeah, them and the rest of the temperate world," I thought. But now I think they may have something unique. See, at home, the Vernal Equinox really means nothing; spring starts long before mid-March, in many senses. And Christmas? Definitely in the MIDDLE of winter, not three days after it starts! Maybe--probably--it's just coincidence, but it was hot and humid all the way up until Shuubun no Hi, the first day of autumn, and then it suddenly cooled down and became beautiful. The leaves started changing color within maybe three or four days of the equinox. I'm probably reading way too much into it, especially seeing as how this is just one change of seasons I've experienced here in contrast to 80 seasonal changes in the US. But still, I was amazed at the accuracy with which the weather followed the calendar regarding seasons.
• Some things here are exactly the same as at home. I really want to emphasize that. I keep talking about how things are different, but in the grand scheme of things, it's all very similar. Right now, for instance, I'm sitting on a rolling desk chair in front of a round table, my computer plugged in to the wall nearby, with air conditioning, fluourescent lights, linoleum floors, a television with too many remote controls, and a pile of unused loose change in the corner free fo anyone's taking. It's not that different from home. People are people. Places are places. I talk about what's strange to me because I find it remarkable; there's a lot here that simply isn't at all surprising, so I don't mention it. Sure, there's the mysterious tea ceremony Japan and the fast-paced Akihabara electronic Japan, but there's also the Japan of shopping for lightbulbs and toilet paper. I live in Lightbulbs and Toilet Paper Japan. I just write about Geisha and Tamagotchi Japan.

Himeji Trip 9/23/08

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