Friday, October 23, 2009
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Why has no-one given me a photography award yet
Do you even see that? Do you? It's the giant torii in front of Heian Jingu (giant shrine in Kyoto made to be a 2/3rds replica of the original original Imperial palace, built in 1895, with the first Emperor to be in Kyoto, as well as the last enshrined as the resident kami), reflected in the national Museum of Modern Art. A new old thing reflected in a new new thing! If I had any academic pretension left in me I would go on at length and play around with the word reflection but I'm tired.
Other highlights: Their garden was beautiful, but posting pictures of that would only prove how good they are and not how good I am. Who wants that? Pictures of said gardens are also a dime (actually, free) a dozen on the internet. It does cost 600 yen to get in, but it was worth every yen (and it will be reimbursed by my class anyway because it was homework! yaaay). I apparently have to go back in spring, as many many of the trees are cherry blossoms that just look sort of depressing and haggard around this time of year.. it didn't manage to drag the rest of the garden down, but I can only imagine (with the help of the pictures they had up everywhere outside it) how much more beautiful it is when they are in bloom. I wanted to go toss a coin in and pray at the emperors, but the people headed up to the actual praying area looked extremely serious and there were (no kidding) security guards (this shrine is really closely tied to Japaneseness, and they take it veeery seriously. There is no funny business), and I am liable to forget the exact sequence of bowing and clapping, so I paid my respects from afar.
Not to cheapen the fact that it really was a very impressive shrine with very nice gardens, but as an interesting side note: At this locus of Traditional Japan, right outside where you could buy your way into the garden, there was basically a teaser video showing the gardens in various seasons and how pretty they were. This itself is "meeh okaay I gueess" but what really made it that special kind of "what" feeling is that, pumped in over the video, was Pachabel's canon. What? Score 10 points, Japan.
In other things I am thinking about, right near the shrine was Murin-an, the private estate of a Meiji period statesman, which we also visited. It was most impressive in the way you went from a normal city street (with a river/canal on one side, anyway) to a tiny alley with a restaruant's kitchens' back end on one side and a door on the other. The door led into a tiny courtyard with the window where they assure you there is no student discount, and next to that a tiiiny tiny door (like it's not even 'hah hah Japanese people are shorter than the average caucasian' short, it's made so everyone has to stoop down to get in). This creates basically the effect of being Alice in Wonderland, as you get transported into a garden that I liked just as much as the ones at Heian Jingu, but that was totally different. Hard to describe, but it's basically the difference between high Imperial showy gardening, and later Edo period teahouse garden minimalist aesthetic. They also lined the walls with trees, creating the sense you were in a forest clearing, not a small complex with other buildings on two sides. There was also a western-style house, with a room where the dude who owned the place talked with other dudes about the Russo-Japanese war! The garden was more interesting.
Unrelated, but going on right now, I am watching/listening to Kalinka on youtube, because I don't have an mp3 of it, and reading the youtube comments under it reminded me of why I never read youtube comments. All with major spelling/grammatical errors, three (3) denouncing "US imperialism," two (2) declaring "Socalists are murderers and the US is the best country ever," in response to the first three, and 1 declaring that "Russian girls are hot." Hooray The Internet.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
So as I was saying
My program took a distributed field trip to Okayama (岡山) prefecture last week. The 岡 (oka) in the name means hill, and 山 (yama) means mountain, and guess what! Both were in evidence. We (the people of my program) were first split into two buses, one going to locations along the coast and the other to the interior (my bus). We then were dropped off in two groups at different local high schools, which was one of the more traumatic experiences of my life. In Kyoto, the sight of a gaijin gets some looks, as I have complained about. But I had literally no idea what staring was until small groups of us were dispersed throughout this fairly small, regional high school. One of my erstwhile companions dubbed it 'giggletown, Japan.' The organizers tried to get us to connect with the Japanese schoolchildren, but even when we could manage to understand each other there wasn't terrifically much to talk about... I mean I doubt I could have a non-awkward conversation with an american high schooler I'd just met either. We discussed our favorite super smash brothers (videogame) characters and that was about it.. Later was clubs! I thought this was 'hey look at them Japanese kids doing clubs' and I signed up for kendo, thinking it'd be cool to watch. HOWEVER, this was apparently interactive. So, I got there and was forcefully presented with a set of clothes to wear that were 1) embarassing and 2) embarassingly difficult to put on, also breaking my promise to myself that "I am not an orientalizing schmuck and I will not play dress up with traditional clothing." I was then given a crash course in super beginning Kendo! I think I managed to not embarrass myself as much as was possible, which was good? I don't know, I'm sure not going to be winning any swordfights, but I'd say it was a good experience.
Anyway, after this exhausting day of giggles and swords, we were ushered into a meeting hall where (traumatically) there was one line of chairs on one side, empty, and two lines of chairs on the other, filled with our super deluxe one-weekend-only host parents. We sat in the empty ones, and ONE BY ONE were called up to meet our new temporary benefactors, then we went and sat down with them. I got super lucky, and my weekend host family were great people. My host dad is 'retired,' and by that I mean he fishes, grows rice, has a vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, makes pottery, does calligraphy, and tutors middle schoolers in English. His wife practices tea ceremony and flower arranging (as well as being an incredible cook), and they also have the most adorable grandchildren in all Japan. I think one of the reasons that people in Japan live so long, aside from the diet and nationalized healthcare, is that they stay so unrelentingly busy. My Kyoto-regular host parents are also involved in all sorts of community activities, and my friends report their parents are similar. One of my friends' host mother got upset when he called her the respectful term for older woman (roughly equal to grandma), and she said "I'm not old! I'm only 68!" You just can't slow these folks down. Anyway adorable grandchildren. The younger one was very young (around 1) and terrified of me, and the older one (I forgot years? somewhere in early elementary school) became my best bud after we built legos together. He also tried to race me with bicycles but, as his hip barely comes up to my knee, it was a little bit of a lost cause. He also drew one of those adorable 'little kid portraits' of me, in which I have GIGANTIC ROUND EYES. Very flattering. I hope he learned valuable life lessons about how giant eyed people aren't all bad!
Anyway, outside of domestic pursuits, my weekend-host-dad and I tore up the prefecture, visiting castles, temples, shrines, this one furniture factory where they have A RACECAR MADE OUT OF WOOD, and his pottery teacher's house (where I learned that using a pottery wheel is very, very hard (and that Japanese pottery is really nice)). It was basically all a lot of fun! Then we had the 5 hour bus ride back, and I came home and had to do homework. That was not as much fun.
In other news, I am writing this with my computer on a kotatsu and my legs under said kotatsu. I made the mistake of telling my host parents it was a little cold, so they have added to my room this, approximately a thousand blankets, and an adjustable, electrically heated rug. I had been told that the Japanese 'heat the body not the room,' which I thought meant they like turn the thermostat down a bit and put on a sweater, but I am only now noticing there is no evidence whatsoever of any central heating in the slightest... looks like I will be getting good use out of this little table.
Until next time, internet!
Anyway, after this exhausting day of giggles and swords, we were ushered into a meeting hall where (traumatically) there was one line of chairs on one side, empty, and two lines of chairs on the other, filled with our super deluxe one-weekend-only host parents. We sat in the empty ones, and ONE BY ONE were called up to meet our new temporary benefactors, then we went and sat down with them. I got super lucky, and my weekend host family were great people. My host dad is 'retired,' and by that I mean he fishes, grows rice, has a vegetable garden and a fruit orchard, makes pottery, does calligraphy, and tutors middle schoolers in English. His wife practices tea ceremony and flower arranging (as well as being an incredible cook), and they also have the most adorable grandchildren in all Japan. I think one of the reasons that people in Japan live so long, aside from the diet and nationalized healthcare, is that they stay so unrelentingly busy. My Kyoto-regular host parents are also involved in all sorts of community activities, and my friends report their parents are similar. One of my friends' host mother got upset when he called her the respectful term for older woman (roughly equal to grandma), and she said "I'm not old! I'm only 68!" You just can't slow these folks down. Anyway adorable grandchildren. The younger one was very young (around 1) and terrified of me, and the older one (I forgot years? somewhere in early elementary school) became my best bud after we built legos together. He also tried to race me with bicycles but, as his hip barely comes up to my knee, it was a little bit of a lost cause. He also drew one of those adorable 'little kid portraits' of me, in which I have GIGANTIC ROUND EYES. Very flattering. I hope he learned valuable life lessons about how giant eyed people aren't all bad!
Anyway, outside of domestic pursuits, my weekend-host-dad and I tore up the prefecture, visiting castles, temples, shrines, this one furniture factory where they have A RACECAR MADE OUT OF WOOD, and his pottery teacher's house (where I learned that using a pottery wheel is very, very hard (and that Japanese pottery is really nice)). It was basically all a lot of fun! Then we had the 5 hour bus ride back, and I came home and had to do homework. That was not as much fun.
In other news, I am writing this with my computer on a kotatsu and my legs under said kotatsu. I made the mistake of telling my host parents it was a little cold, so they have added to my room this, approximately a thousand blankets, and an adjustable, electrically heated rug. I had been told that the Japanese 'heat the body not the room,' which I thought meant they like turn the thermostat down a bit and put on a sweater, but I am only now noticing there is no evidence whatsoever of any central heating in the slightest... looks like I will be getting good use out of this little table.
Until next time, internet!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Hisashiburi nee
Man I'm super sorry internet! So much has been happening, that I haven't had time to write about it, and the more that happened, the more I had to write about that that I couldn't because it was happening! This is, I am pretty sure, a conundrum that explains why 87% of blogs are completely meaningless and insipid. This blog is of course therefore 13% of the internet. ANYWAY.
So! Since last post: Been to Kiyomizudera, Nishi Honganji, seen a matsuri, and gone on a long weekend getaway to Okayama out in the country! I also have since gone to handbell choir not once but twice! Lots of things to talk about.
Kiyomizudera is (was, they broke off in like 1965 but whatever) a branch temple of Kofukuji, one of the really old, powerful Nara temples. As such they (kofukuji) fought with Enryakuji (my temple) a lot over appointments to Imperial rites, seating arrangements, so on and so forth. Whenever Kofukuji pulled one over on Enryakuji, mah boyes would go burn Kiyomizu to the ground. Fun times! Anyway, it's been rebuilt (don't ask me when the last time was.. can't remember) and functions admirably as a hotspot for tourists of all shapes, sizes, and colors. I walked from a station a good 30 minutes away, so I got the full grandeur of the approach; the maps pointing to it with sightseeing suggestions for other nearby shrines/curiosities began about 20 minutes away (there are in fact some very important, big things in the vicinity, and I was walking through Gion, one of the most famous parts of the city anyhow, so Kiyomizu wasn't actually the main attraction on the maps that far away.. but whatever, Kyotoland). Walking there, I stumbled on a 5 story pagoda just hanging out.. I'm not sure if it's attached to Yasaka shrine or not, but I couldn't find a sign in english and I was in seek and destroy mode, so I blew on past. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a picture of the Japanese signage to figure it out after the fact, but whatcha gonna do. The approach soon became a shop-lined, narrow, steeply graded street, THRONGING with tourists. I heard several languages, though easily 80% of the tourists were Japanese. I apparently chose a day that a bunch of high schools did, and there were big tomfoolerin' gangs of them everywhere you went, too. Anyway there were shops for at least a quarter of a mile packed shoulder to shoulder, selling every kind of crap you would want; a lot of fans, some traditional clothes, a lot of katanas, cellphone charms, nicknacks of every kind.
So the temple itself! The first time through I walked right past the part that everyone pays to see. I can't explain why; it's the building with the giant sweet veranda with a view of the mountains (it's pointed entirely south (or north? my sense of direction might have been messed up at some point), meaning the city is only visible off of one corner of it, which in interesting). It was really pretty; I took the mandatory tourist photos both on it and of the veranda itself from the hill next to it, where there were a few other detached buildings. Within the temple buildings, there was a very very different feel from the other temples I've been at. Enryakuji (the West part anyway, East was almost empty) was bustling, but it was a silent, reverent bustle. There was barely any reverence at all in evidence here; the old people all had giant cameras that they used to the fullest extent, the high schoolers were high schoolers, and the gaijin were just like the old people except with smaller, more airplane-friendly photographic equipment. I fit right in, whereas at Enryakuji I permanently felt like an intruder. I did so well at being a tourist, I was even accosted by a group of middle schoolers whose assignment for the weekend was to find an American and ask them simple questions in English. I tried to help them cheat by answering in english first and then Japanese when I could, leading to common experience of them lying and saying my Japanese was very good, and me lying and saying their english was very good (This is not exactly true, there have been several Japanese people to whom I wasn't lying in this exchange). Fun times! So that was Kiyomizudera.
Technically chronologically next is my first trip to Handbell Choir! The music is much harder than what we played in the handbell choir back home (probably because I was only ever really in the Children's one) and they expect us all to do that sweet thing where you hold 2 bells in each hand, which I therefore had to learn on the spot which was.. fun. They are all suuper nice, though, and thankfully bore my pitiful attempts at their language with considerable aplomb. One guy talks really indistinctly so I have a lot of trouble, but I did about 60% ok I think.. They said I could come back, though! (at the end, packing up, I tried to use the stock formal phrase I had learned for asking if I could join, but TOTALLY forgot it halfway through and stammered for about 20 seconds before one guy was like 'uhhh so you want to come back next week?' (in Japanese, it wasn't so bad that they would need to whip out their english like they did a few times) and I was like 'YES SORRY!' and everyone was really happy in a way that made it seem like I was the one accepting THEM. It was very kind of them! They're a fun bunch and I think I'll have a nice time, they also do stuff outside of just practicing which they said they'd invite me along to. I'm in a weird spot because the traditional high point for handbells (and therefore their main concert) is Christmas, during our winter break when we are kicked out of our homestays and when we plan to wander the vast land of Japan with wild abandon. They didn't seem to mind terribly much, though! We'll see how it turns out, but the prognosis is optimistic. It does indeed go from 4:45 till 8 PM, though. On the bright side, one of the members lives at a stop 2 further than mine on the same line, so I have a buddy for the relatively late commute back! On the not as bright side, this doesn't change the fact that I get home at 9, not having really had time for homework that day, and I get up around 6 the next morning.. I feel like a Japanese high school student (for ONE DAY A WEEK POOR ME).
NEXT UP: Zuiki Matsuri! A matsuri, for those of you too lazy to click the link to wikipedia, is a Japanese festival that technically involves taking the god-body (the object they keep in the most sacred part shrine that represents whatever kami is hanging around there) out of the shrine, showing it around in a big parade, having a party/carnival (no rides, but lots of stalls/games/etc) for a few days, then parading the god-body back home. This one in particular is out of the Kitano Tenjin shrine, which is coincidentally the patron kami of studying, so it behooves me to suck up. They weren't involved in the initial procession we watched, but the high point of the return trip is they make these floats out of entirely vegetables, which is pretty sweet. Traditional Japanese things! Exciting!
So then we went into the country! This has gotten rather long and I have to go to sleep, so that will have to wait for another day, loyal readers. I know I can't put many pictures up in here, but they would help a lot.. I'll find a solution somehow sometime (it is called flickr, but I am soooo laaazyyy).
So! Since last post: Been to Kiyomizudera, Nishi Honganji, seen a matsuri, and gone on a long weekend getaway to Okayama out in the country! I also have since gone to handbell choir not once but twice! Lots of things to talk about.
Kiyomizudera is (was, they broke off in like 1965 but whatever) a branch temple of Kofukuji, one of the really old, powerful Nara temples. As such they (kofukuji) fought with Enryakuji (my temple) a lot over appointments to Imperial rites, seating arrangements, so on and so forth. Whenever Kofukuji pulled one over on Enryakuji, mah boyes would go burn Kiyomizu to the ground. Fun times! Anyway, it's been rebuilt (don't ask me when the last time was.. can't remember) and functions admirably as a hotspot for tourists of all shapes, sizes, and colors. I walked from a station a good 30 minutes away, so I got the full grandeur of the approach; the maps pointing to it with sightseeing suggestions for other nearby shrines/curiosities began about 20 minutes away (there are in fact some very important, big things in the vicinity, and I was walking through Gion, one of the most famous parts of the city anyhow, so Kiyomizu wasn't actually the main attraction on the maps that far away.. but whatever, Kyotoland). Walking there, I stumbled on a 5 story pagoda just hanging out.. I'm not sure if it's attached to Yasaka shrine or not, but I couldn't find a sign in english and I was in seek and destroy mode, so I blew on past. In hindsight, I wish I had taken a picture of the Japanese signage to figure it out after the fact, but whatcha gonna do. The approach soon became a shop-lined, narrow, steeply graded street, THRONGING with tourists. I heard several languages, though easily 80% of the tourists were Japanese. I apparently chose a day that a bunch of high schools did, and there were big tomfoolerin' gangs of them everywhere you went, too. Anyway there were shops for at least a quarter of a mile packed shoulder to shoulder, selling every kind of crap you would want; a lot of fans, some traditional clothes, a lot of katanas, cellphone charms, nicknacks of every kind.
So the temple itself! The first time through I walked right past the part that everyone pays to see. I can't explain why; it's the building with the giant sweet veranda with a view of the mountains (it's pointed entirely south (or north? my sense of direction might have been messed up at some point), meaning the city is only visible off of one corner of it, which in interesting). It was really pretty; I took the mandatory tourist photos both on it and of the veranda itself from the hill next to it, where there were a few other detached buildings. Within the temple buildings, there was a very very different feel from the other temples I've been at. Enryakuji (the West part anyway, East was almost empty) was bustling, but it was a silent, reverent bustle. There was barely any reverence at all in evidence here; the old people all had giant cameras that they used to the fullest extent, the high schoolers were high schoolers, and the gaijin were just like the old people except with smaller, more airplane-friendly photographic equipment. I fit right in, whereas at Enryakuji I permanently felt like an intruder. I did so well at being a tourist, I was even accosted by a group of middle schoolers whose assignment for the weekend was to find an American and ask them simple questions in English. I tried to help them cheat by answering in english first and then Japanese when I could, leading to common experience of them lying and saying my Japanese was very good, and me lying and saying their english was very good (This is not exactly true, there have been several Japanese people to whom I wasn't lying in this exchange). Fun times! So that was Kiyomizudera.
Technically chronologically next is my first trip to Handbell Choir! The music is much harder than what we played in the handbell choir back home (probably because I was only ever really in the Children's one) and they expect us all to do that sweet thing where you hold 2 bells in each hand, which I therefore had to learn on the spot which was.. fun. They are all suuper nice, though, and thankfully bore my pitiful attempts at their language with considerable aplomb. One guy talks really indistinctly so I have a lot of trouble, but I did about 60% ok I think.. They said I could come back, though! (at the end, packing up, I tried to use the stock formal phrase I had learned for asking if I could join, but TOTALLY forgot it halfway through and stammered for about 20 seconds before one guy was like 'uhhh so you want to come back next week?' (in Japanese, it wasn't so bad that they would need to whip out their english like they did a few times) and I was like 'YES SORRY!' and everyone was really happy in a way that made it seem like I was the one accepting THEM. It was very kind of them! They're a fun bunch and I think I'll have a nice time, they also do stuff outside of just practicing which they said they'd invite me along to. I'm in a weird spot because the traditional high point for handbells (and therefore their main concert) is Christmas, during our winter break when we are kicked out of our homestays and when we plan to wander the vast land of Japan with wild abandon. They didn't seem to mind terribly much, though! We'll see how it turns out, but the prognosis is optimistic. It does indeed go from 4:45 till 8 PM, though. On the bright side, one of the members lives at a stop 2 further than mine on the same line, so I have a buddy for the relatively late commute back! On the not as bright side, this doesn't change the fact that I get home at 9, not having really had time for homework that day, and I get up around 6 the next morning.. I feel like a Japanese high school student (for ONE DAY A WEEK POOR ME).
NEXT UP: Zuiki Matsuri! A matsuri, for those of you too lazy to click the link to wikipedia, is a Japanese festival that technically involves taking the god-body (the object they keep in the most sacred part shrine that represents whatever kami is hanging around there) out of the shrine, showing it around in a big parade, having a party/carnival (no rides, but lots of stalls/games/etc) for a few days, then parading the god-body back home. This one in particular is out of the Kitano Tenjin shrine, which is coincidentally the patron kami of studying, so it behooves me to suck up. They weren't involved in the initial procession we watched, but the high point of the return trip is they make these floats out of entirely vegetables, which is pretty sweet. Traditional Japanese things! Exciting!
So then we went into the country! This has gotten rather long and I have to go to sleep, so that will have to wait for another day, loyal readers. I know I can't put many pictures up in here, but they would help a lot.. I'll find a solution somehow sometime (it is called flickr, but I am soooo laaazyyy).
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