Kyoto Trip

In November, I decided it was time for a little vacation. I checked out the trips that were going to be run by the local tour company and decided to go on the guided tour to Kyoto and Nara. An interesting historical fact is that Kyoto and Nara were the two previous capitals of Japan before it was decided to make Tokyo(previously called Edo) the current capital. Nara was the original capital before it moved to Kyoto. Kyoto is still an important city in Japan, having a large number of temples and shrines in the area and one of the Imperial palaces. You can only visit one of the Imperial palaces by making special arrangements with the organization in charge of maintaining them, so I wasn't able to go this time.

The first day we went to the Heian Jingu shrine, where I bought my Japanese temple stamp book and got my first entry put in. The idea is pretty interesting, but I dislike the overly commercial nature of the setup. I'm fine with paying for the book, but then you also have to pay 300 yen to have one of the monks sign it and enter the seal for the temple on one of the pages. 300 yen was the price at all of the temples/shrines that we visited during our trip. Going to a temple or shrine in Japan is an extremely tourist-type attraction with lots of souvenirs to be bought, such as various charms for specific types of good luck. I saw charms for success on examinations and driving safety, among others.

Front cover of my shrine stamp book

Stamped pages

 Going to the temple itself may be free or require payment, but there are usually sections where you have to pay for admission. For example, the Heian Jingu shrine has an extended garden that you can explore behind the shrine buildings, but you have to pay for admission. I was curious to see it, so I coughed up the money and took the walking tour. The first half was pretty dull since it wasn't the best season for gardens. The second half led around a pond, which was much more scenic, with the fall trees being reflected beautifully in the water.

After our visit to the temple, we went to see a Maiko perform at a local museum. A Maiko is basically an apprentice Geisha. I wasn't too interested in this part of the tour, but I did take a few pictures. To me, it seems like kind of a sad life for a person to follow, since they seem to be like living dolls constantly on display just to amuse other people. Her day was pretty much set for doing the same brief presentation to different groups of about 30 - 50 people. After taking a few pictures, I just wandered around the museum.

On our second day, we went to a nature preserve where they have lots of deer roaming around. You can buy special deer crackers to feed them, which I tried, thinking it would be a good opportunity to get a picture of a deer. I wasn't prepared for how brazen the deer were. The crackers came wrapped with a simple paper band, but I didn't even get a chance to take it off before I was being literally mobbed by several deer. I tried to get some distance and take my time to compose myself for a picture, but one deer was annoyingly persistent and was starting to chew on my shirt because I wasn't giving him all my crackers. I had wanted to try giving them to different deer, but he ended up getting all of my crackers because I just wanted to get away from him at the point.

After ditching the deer, I headed over to the Todaiji temple grounds to see the large Buddha statue there. We were allowed to walk around it and see it from several different angles. They had a lot of other interesting displays and artifacts in the building where it was housed as well.

Dai-Butsu(Big Buddha Statue)

Another statue in the building

One of the pillars in the building has a hole the size of the Buddha's statues nostril that you can crawl through if you are small enough to fit. It's supposed to be good luck. Since it's a small hole, and I am decidedly not a small person, I didn't even try. You basically have to be a kid or very small adult to fit through.

Hole in pillar with someone trying to crawl through

After we were done at the temple, we had free time to explore Kyoto. They had given us a map on the bus while we were driving to Kyoto and I had seen several things that had interested me. Unfortunately, most of them closed around the time we got back, but there was one that had longer hours and was fairly close to our hotel. As soon as we got back, I headed off to find the Shinsengumi Historical site at the Yagi house. The Shinsengumi were a band of samurai policemen active around the time of the Meiji Restoration, when Japan started modernizing. They gave us a tour of the house and a short talk about the history of the Shinsengumi, but it was all in Japanese, so I only understood a small fraction of it. I'm sure it was fairly interesting. Afterwards, I got the tour guide to take a picture of me in front of the house before they served us tea and dessert. I have to say that going there was one of the high points of the trip for me.

Afterwards, I got dinner and went to see the light show at a local temple. It was a fairly long walk, but it was definitely a good opportunity for photos. It was definitely worth the money I paid to get in.

On the last day of the trip, we went on a tram ride through the Hozu river gorge and had the chance to take pictures of the gorge. I took some pictures, but mostly I enjoyed the opportunity to sit down for a while, since we had been doing a lot of walking on the trip.

After arriving at the tram's destination, we were allowed to explore the area on our own while making our way to where the bus was waiting. I visited the garden at Tenryu-ji temple, which is a famous Japanese garden and took a lot of pictures.

Pictures from the garden at Tenryu-ji Temple

Then I made my way over to the temple entrance, where I had just enough time to get another stamp in my shrine book. I really just wanted that stamp because the temple has a cool name: Temple of the Heavenly Dragon. After that I hurried down to the bus location, looking for a spot where I could grab a quick bite to eat along the way. I ended up going to another Tonkatsu restaurant and having curry, which I had several times during this trip. After eating in a hurry, I had just enough time to get to the bus. I knew it was fairly close to where I had gotten lunch, but I forgot the exact location and ended up having to call the tour guide for the bus location. Her directions were a little confusing and I ended up going to the wrong parking lot, which made me a little bit late. She ended up having to come look for me.

Then we were off to our last stop of the tour: Kinkakuji Temple, the home of the famous Golden Pavilion. There were a ton of people there, considering it was a Tuesday afternoon. I briefly wondering if anyone in Japan actually worked or went to school because the place was literally packed. We followed the path around the temple grounds and got an opportunity to take pictures of the Golden Pavilion(entry prohibited) and get our shrine books stamped before it was time to head back to the bus and go home. All in all, it was a good trip, but I will definitely go on my own next time and see what I want to see. I'd like to go see this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gozan_no_Okuribi, but I'm not sure I want to deal with the crowds that will be there.

Kokura Gion Daiko Festival

Confession: I am a terrible blogger. The event that I'm just blogging about now happened 6 months ago. That being said, here we go.

Japan has a lot of festivals during the year. I found out about this particular one through a local travel agency. For those who don't know, Daiko or Taiko is a type of Japanese drum, usually quite large. The event was basically a drum competition between groups from all over Japan. Each group designs a portable shrine with a drum attached to the front and parades in succession in front of the audience and judges, who are either seated in bleachers or just standing around the parade area. Here is a picture of one of the shrines.

On the day of the event, our group got there a few hours before the official start of the drum competition, so we had time to check out the surrounding area beforehand. After buying a ticket for a seat in the bleachers, I went exploring and found the local mall. By some amazing coincidence, the mall had a traveling exhibit in a small museum. Can you guess what the exhibit was? A traveling exhibition of Hokusai pieces from the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Hokusai is probably the most famous ukiyo-e artist, who is most famous for his Great Wave print. Seeing the advertisements in the mall, I couldn't resist the temptation to go and see the exhibit. There were a lot of good pieces in the exhibit and I grabbed a few souvenirs from the souvenir store on my way out.

I made it back to the main parade area just in time to catch the opening ceremony, which consisted of a group of guys carrying a shrine down the main parade area, then heaving it in the air a few times. It was fun to watch and I was in the perfect position to get a video of it.

I felt bad for the guys carrying that thing. It was super-hot that day. Anyway, after they passed by, I was able to get back to the bleachers and watch the drum competition commence. Since I was one of the last ones to get to the bleachers, I was forced to stand for a while. Although I would have liked to sit down at that point, it was actually good, since it gave me a good vantage point for taking pictures of the event, which you can see on my Facebook page. After about an hour or so, I got tired of watching the parade and standing in the heat, so I decided to wander around some more. There was a large castle nearby, so I took some pictures of that. I think it was closed for the festival, so I couldn't actually go see it in person that day, which was a little unfortunate. 

Since the drum competition was part of a larger festival, there were a lot of booths set up to sell food, items, and also for playing some carnival type games. The tour guides had given us a map of the local area in advance, and I had seen something that particularly interested me, so I headed off to find one of my favorite places in any area, the local bookstore! I browsed the shelves for a while and ended up getting some manga volumes and possibly also a CD, IIRC. By that point, I was getting hungry, so I headed back to the mall and got some food. And then it was time to go back to the bus for the trip home. I had to find an alternate route to avoid the crowds and some shrine bearers coming the way I had originally come down and saw the entrance to the castle along the way, which I had missed earlier.

That's it for now. Hopefully it won't be this long before my next post! :)

Miyajima and Kangensai Festival

This post is long overdue, since I've been pretty busy with work and adjusting to life here in Japan. I also got a promotion recently at my job, so I've also been busy learning the ropes in my new position. Anyway, I went to the Kangensai Ceremony on July 27th, so almost two months ago now. It is held every year on Miyajima, also known as Crazy Deer Island. They just wander all over the island, completely at ease with all the people.. I saw one stick its head in some lady's purse to chew on a bag they had some food in. The guy with her ended up giving the chewed-up contents to the deer, which then went back for more. He ended up wrestling it away by the horns. When I bought chicken on a stick at one of the food vendors, I ended up with a new friend following me like a crazed stalker. Just watch the video below to get a small taste of how bold they are:

The Kangensai Festival is essentially a religious-type ceremony where they load a portable shrine on a boat, play some music, and the boat sails around Miyajima, stopping at several different temples along the way. I only saw the opening part, since I had to work the next day and couldn't stay that long. For more information about what it entails and the history of the ceremony: http://www.miyajima.or.jp/english/event/event_kangen.html.

I took a bunch of pictures and some short video of the opening part of the ceremony. Unfortunately, my camera doesn't capture sound when you shoot videos. I might be looking into a new one that offers that feature, since I think the sound is an important part of the experience. Any suggestions?

The first video is of the shrine on the boat. The second video is of the accompanying boat pulling up alongside the main boat. The guy waving the sticks was also chanting, but obviously you won't be able to hear it.

After the boat set off, I wandered the island a bit more. I went inside the shrine and took some pictures of interesting things inside. You're actually not allowed to take pictures of the priests or their attendants in the shrine for some reason. I'm not sure if that's the case at every shrine in Japan or not. I did take pictures of the fortune drawing chest, where you are allowed to draw a stick with a number on it for a small donation to the shrine. Then you can take one of the fortunes from the numbered drawer and apparently tie it around some wire in another section of the shrine. According to Wikipedia, this practice is called O-mikuji.

After checking out the shrine, I went to find the pagoda that I had seen while walking around earlier, hoping to check it out up close. Unfortunately, when I got there, it became obvious that no one can actually go inside.

After that, it was getting late, so I headed back to the ferry terminal and said goodbye to Miyajima for the day. I will probably go again sometime, since the ticket I bought to go into the shrine also included a ticket to visit the Treasury Hall on Miyajima, which was closed by the time I got done there. Miyajima also has an aquarium that I would like to visit. There are also several other things there that might be worth seeing, so I'll probably end up taking a few trips there during my stay here.

Long overdue update

Sorry about the long wait between updates. After moving out of the TLF on base, my access to the internet became severely limited until I finally got it set up in my apartment this week. I've also been pretty busy getting my apartment furnished and such. A lot has happened since I last updated(almost two months ago).  Here's a quick run-down:

1. The head librarian in charge of all the Marine Corps base libraries visited our library for a week. After the summer reading program is over, we'll be abandoning the Dewey system in favor of a more browsable system. We'll be one of the first three libraries to make the transition, so she was here to get a look at the library and offer input.

2. I visited several restaurants and stores in the city. I will not be going to Hidari Uma again, but will definitely visit the Indian restaurant that I went to again(the name escapes me at the moment). Their curry was excellent and the chicken was so tender that it practically melted in my mouth. I also stumbled across Tsutaya, a store where you can rent DVDs, CDs, and manga books. I didn't try to find out if they would rent to foreigners, but I did buy some of the cheap used items they were selling. Two manga volumes and a CD for 300 yen total, minus tax. Definite score! I'll be popping in there every so often to see if they have any other good finds.

3. I went to Hiroshima for an afternoon. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures, since I forgot to bring my camera along. I took some pictures on my cellphone, but I don't have anything to connect it to my computer and download the pictures. No worries though, I'll definitely be back there sometime and remember to take the camera with next time. I visited the Peace Park and looked for a bookstore where I could find some study materials for the JLPT, but didn't find a bookstore that was big enough to have what I was looking for. Now that I have access to the internet again, I should be able to locate a store before I go again. I did stumble across the underground mall in downtown Hiroshima, which was pretty surprising. I had seen the signs for it from above ground, but assumed it was just referring to an underground walkway. It's really quite large down there, with several restaurants, clothing stores, a flower shop, and a small bookstore. I also saw my first Starbucks in Japan down there.

That covers everything I can think of right now. Until next time!

Finding an apartment and going to Hiroshima

This week has been fairly eventful. I've been busy all week, between a special training class that ran from Monday to Wednesday. I got to meet several new people through the class and learned quite a bit about some of the rules and procedures at the new workplace. After work on Wednesday, I finally got the chance to see the inside of another apartment not too far from the base. Unfortunately, by the time that the one I saw on Wednesday was available, someone had taken the slightly larger and more expensive apartment. However, that wasn't too big of a deal, since I ended up liking the apartment I saw on Wednesday more anyway. I told the realtor I was interested in the apartment and now I just have to go to the housing office here on base to get the contract done.

Afterwards, I went with my coworkers to Yamada to look at their selection of things like laundry machines, microwaves, and refrigerators. Half the time my one co-worker was trying to tell me I didn't need all three(she was particularly adamant that I didn't need a laundry machine since there are laundromats in town). I told her I had no particular desire to be lugging my laundry back and forth to the laundromat on a bicycle or on foot. Apparently, having a laundry machine is considered something of a luxury for Japanese people. I don't think the ones I liked were even all that expensive, but she was always saying that they were. I got back at her though when she was looking at rice makers though. Most of the ones she was looking at were on par or more expensive than the microwaves, to give you an idea.

Meanwhile, while I was apartment hunting and generally enjoying life in Japan, my sister was being faced with a personal tragedy as her husband had a seizure and was put in an induced coma because he wasn't breathing on his own. Sadly, it was determined that there was no chance that he would recover since he was too far gone and essentially brain dead. My sister made the tough decision to keep him alive on life support for one day to allow his friends and family the chance to say goodbye.
Please keep my sister and my mother in your prayers, along with her husband's family. My mother flew out to Minnesota as soon as she heard the news so she could be there with my sister.

Today, I went to Hiroshima to visit the immigration office there and change my immigration status since I received my ID card proving my employment here on base. I hadn't had a chance previously because of the special training class that I had to attend. Hiroshima is quite a remarkable city. It's a shame that I didn't have time to do sight-seeing since I was on official business, but I did get to mark some places to check out little as I was walking through the city to the immigration office. I saw a lot of interesting looking stores, the Hiroshima art museum, the outside wall of Hiroshima castle, and a rather uniquely designed shopping mall. I would go back just to take pictures of the shopping mall, it was that interesting. Coming on the castle in the middle of all the modern buildings surrounding it was a surprising contrast. I also saw some more creative manhole covers. The ones in Hiroshima are different than the ones in Iwakuni. Perhaps each city has its own unique design? Stay tuned for more pictures when I finally get around to taking a more leisurely visit to Hiroshima. Probably not this weekend, since it is Golden Week and there is a big flower festival being held in the city this weekend.

Exploring the City - Sunday

On Sunday, I decided I wanted to pay a visit to the bookstore that had been on the map the guide had given us on our quick bus tour of the city. I looked at the map and determined what was nearby to give me an idea where to get off the bus. Since I saw that it was fairly close to the train station in the southern part of the city, I decided to get off there and walk the rest of the way. With my new-found Japanese bus skills, getting to the train station was easy enough. Finding the bookstore proved to be a greater challenge, since I had neglected to bring the map with me, instead relying on my memory to guide me. Obviously, I should have paid more attention when looking at the map. I wandered around the train station to see if there was someone to help me. I briefly thought about asking one of the taxi drivers chatting there to take me to the bookstore, but decided against it. I looked at the map in the train station, trying to see if I could figure out where the bookstore was. While I was looking, two sisters(and I mean the Catholic kind, or maybe the Mormon kind, if the Mormons have sisters), came up and asked if they could help me. I told them I was looking for the bookstore and they pointed me in the right direction, adding that it was by three Pachinko parlors. If you're curious how I know they were nuns/sisters, they were wearing badges that said Sister X and Sister Y(no habits involved in that bit of deduction).

Thanks to the information, I headed off on my merry way to the bookstore. I hadn't gotten very far on my way when all of a sudden, one of my Japanese co-workers pulled up beside me and asked what I was doing. I told her I was heading to the bookstore and she offered me a ride. I got in and then she was trying to remember where it was. I told her that it was by the three Pachinko parlors and she instantly knew where I was talking about. Speaking of Pachinko parlors, I had heard a little about them because of my interest in Japanese culture, but I hardly realized how ubiquitous they were. They are literally everywhere in the city. I could probably tell you where at least ten are located, based on the little exploration I have done so far. My co-worker was on her way home from hiking Three Peaks, which is apparently a popular mountain to hike in the area. I heard some people I was walking by the other day mention they had been there also. She took me to the bookstore, I thanked her for the ride, and got out.

In the bookstore, I wandered around a bit, taking it all in. There were a surprising amount of people there, all standing around flipping through various books. I would hardly call it a welcoming atmosphere when I compare it to the bookstores I have been to in the States. It was overly hot and there were no chairs to be seen anywhere, just long narrow rows of books. There was also a music and movie section, but there weren't any chairs there either. Japanese movies also tend to be very expensive. I've seen movies as high as 7000 yen, which is about $70. Most seem to be about $30 - $40. In case you think it was just the bookstore price, I have seen movies that high at several different stores already, so it must be fairly normal. I was looking for books to study for the JLPT, but their selection was limited to books containing copies of past exams, so I passed on those. The person I asked for help understood zero English, even the acronym for the test, which I thought would be more common knowledge, since even the website uses that acronym(the books I saw did too). Only when I used the Japanese name for the test did she understand what I was asking for. I ended up buying three manga volumes, which were reasonably priced, and headed home.

Exploring the city

Not much of note happened during the week, aside from doing some more apartment hunting. I have some good leads and should be able to make a final decision this week, when one of the apartments I'm interested in is finally open to be seen. I think I'm leaning toward that one, despite not having been inside. The pictures looked good, and the two rooms are larger than the other leading apartment, although the apartment itself is smaller.

This weekend I took the chance to explore the city a little bit, mainly the downtown area near the main local train station on Saturday. There are a lot of restaurants and family-owned businesses in that area. There are also some chain stores, like McDonald's, Daiso(a 100 yen store), and Wants(which I didn't go into, but is apparently like a department store). I did stop and buy a CD that caught my interest at one of the family-run stores. So far I've been liking it a lot, despite it being a little on the expensive side.

I also went back to Yamada, the store that I said was like Best Buy, but louder, in an earlier post. I have to say that impression was slightly mistaken. It's more like a cross between Best Buy and Target. Besides electronics, video games, and movies, they also have stationery, toys, household appliances, and other stuff. Afterwards, I had lunch at an Indian restaurant that was recommended to me by a co-worker.

While walking around, I saw some interesting sights. Perhaps the most memorable was actually in the street itself. Well, actually covering a hole in the sidewalk.

Japanese man-hole covers

Yep, the Japanese flair for artistry extends even to things most people would probably never even think to look at twice in the ordinary course of events. Shortly after taking the pictures above, I got the opportunity to take a picture of one of the historic buses that the city keeps in service for whatever reason.

While I was looking around at the family-owned stores, which seem to have been built literally around a road that has since been closed off to street traffic, at least running in one direction. However, you'll often get traffic coming through on the intersections running in the cross sections between the enclosed strip mall. Japanese drivers can be quite scary in their driving habits. They play fast and loose with anything you might consider normal traffic regulations. I've seen some pretty crazy things walking around town. The craziest so far has been a pizza delivery guy driving a motorcycle through an alley that two people would be hard-pressed to walk side-by-side in. You really have to pay attention to cars and bicyclists while walking around.

Since space is at a premium in Japan, you really have to think about looking up for places, even when you think the place should be on the ground floor. In America, it probably would be, but there is a lot of upwards development in Japan. There are also a lot of places hidden in surprising nooks and crannies of places where you wouldn't think to look for a business in normal circumstances.

There are also some places that you wouldn't expect to see in Japan. For example, I've seen a Mormon temple and this place:

Yes, that's really a YMCA building here in Japan. And sometimes the Japanese try to imitate American places, but just get things a little off:

 

 

 

Get your haircut and maybe have a drink?

And sometimes, you just get things you have no explanation for:

The apartment building of many colors

I'll post about what I did today later. I think this post has covered enough already. Please leave a comment if there's anything you'd like to hear more about.