Japan Trip 2007-2008

A New Challenger Approaches!! (Day 3) - The Exhibition, a baby, and Nabe

2008-03-01T23:30:00.000-08:00

Friday morning, Jillian left for her trip, so it was just Kaori, Charlie and I. Our first errand was for food, and also to pick some 差知れ（さしいれ、SaShiIRe - after-event gifts) for Midori. The way Kaori explained it, sashiire are kind of like the oranges or treats one brings to a soccer or volleyball game for the players onces its over. They're both congratulatory, and refreshing!

We stopped by the mall to get refueled and pick up gifts, then made our way to Wind Farm, where the exhibition was taking place.

Wind Farm! Cafe and Gallery

Because Jillian was unable to attend, I promised I'd take lots of pictures. The exhibition was for Midori and her classmate. Midori does sculpture and metalwork, while her partner does photography.

Some of Midori's sculptures placed next to their clay molds

Some of Midori's classmate's photography

The center of the exhibition room, that's Charlie and Midori chatting on the left

We received programs for the exhibition, but they were entirely in Japanese so I was having a hard time reading them. Midori explained to us that her partner was working with [] (HiBi, or cracks) while she herself had taken on a plant motif. I can only imagine how much work they both must have put into their work, especially considering how much bronze needs to be worked and polished before it's ready for presentation.

This one was my favorite of Midori's classmate's work. I like how the crack branches out kind of like roots.

Charlie, Kaori and I were discussing the cracks, and how evocative the project was. It was interesting to see how much attention was being paid to something not only usually overlooked, but often also considered ugly, or even dangerous. Looking at them so closely brought about questions of how those cracks came to be, and about the general wear and tear of life. The weaving path of pictures on the floor are a collective photo of one large crack, which the artist suggested we walk upon. Charlie thought it was interesting that walking along the crack, which was haphazard, was more similar to the path of life than a typical road, which are usually fairly straight linear. I thought that the crack was interesting because it reminded me of when I was a kid and how the game wasn't to step on cracks, but didn't say anything. (This comes up later)

鈴木さんの「あいさつ」 Midori's "Aitsatsu," or "Greeting" I thought this would have been Jill's favorite if she had been able to come.

This one was one of my favorites of Midori's, since it reminded me of seaweed beneath the ocean. She said that it's Japanese title could be loosely translated to "rhyme," which she chose since the was inspired by sound for this one.

I really liked the way that the light fell on these two

What are these? That's for the viewer to decide!

Midori asked me about this piece in particular, saying that some of her friends had said that these reminded her of birds. I told her that my honest first impression was that of slugs, since there's a lot of them in the northwest. She seemed kind of surprised, but I assured her that slugs aren't a bad thing! In fact, there's lots of funny songs about slugs. She let us pick them up an investigate them more closely as well. One of the first things I noticed was how heavy they were, and on the bottom side, they'd been sand-papered to have a really rough texture. From a different angle, they look a lot like leaves, and from another angle, they can look kind of like cupped hands as well. I explained that Jill probably would've seen birds, where I saw slugs. Still, it was really interesting how many different things they could appear to be.

Kaori, Charlie, Midori and I at the exhibition. Midori looks a little upset... I hope it wasn't my slug comment! Although she assured me that it was a valuable thing to hear from an artistic standpoint.

Goodbye, Exhibition!

After the exhibition, Kaori, Charlie and I went to go visit Kaori's friend Keiko, who Jillian and I had gone with Kaori to go visit before. Charlie had visited Keiko and Nagomu (Keiko's baby) the last time he came to Miyazaki, back in November. He was surprised to see how big the baby had gotten!

Charlie goofing around with his hatamaki outside of Keiko's apartment

At first, Nagomu was not happy to see us. He was bawling and screaming and crying so much we didn't know what to do. Even Kaori's amazing charm couldn't get him to stop! Kaori explained that Keiko thought it was likely that he's hit that age where he just kind of cries about everything, but eventually he got tired and fell asleep. (We'd also tried feeding him, changing his diaper, playing with him, and many other things, but he really seemed to just need to wear himself out.

Aw... he's so cute when he's sleeping

I'm embarrassed to say that due to a late night and an early morning, (Thanks, Shiva) I was pretty tired, too.

I'll just close my eyes for... a... minute... zZz...

I was pretty mortified that I'd basically passed out on the floor, but Keiko and Kaori insisted that I sleep, and brought me a pillow and blankets, even! I felt really bad, but was too sleepy to refuse. While I slept, Keiko, Kaori and Charlie chatted and drank tea and ate some snacks that Kaori had picked up at the mall.

Don't worry, we both woke up eventually.

Nagomu likes Kaori a lot!

He likes Charlie, too, but mostly he likes pulling his hair, I think

After thanking Keiko for being such a lovely host, (I still felt bad for falling asleep!) Charlie and I hung out for a bit while Kaori and Tomomi prepared dinner. Kaori picked up a bunch of things for an amazing Nabe soup. (I bought some alcohol, since we had decided it was going to be a drinking night) It was just the four of us since Rumi was working and Jill was on a field trip. On my way to the store to get the booze, (Smirnoff Ice - reminds us of Evergreen) I ran into Midori's partner from the exhibition. She recognized me first, and thanked me for going to see her photos. I thanked her, too, and told her that it was really interesting.

As I was walking away, though, I realized that I wanted to say something about the "don't step on a crack, or you'll fall and break your back, (or your mother's back, depending)" thing. I couldn't decide if I should go back and try to talk to her about it, or if I should just let it go. I decided that I would regret it if I didn't tell her, so I went back and luckily found her just right where she was before. (I think she was waiting for someone) I did my best to explain in Japanese (since she said she wasn't very good at English) about the childhood game, and how her art was really impressive, and we chatted for a while about her pictures. She told me that she Midori had told her that I'd said that the one with the flower was my favorite, and she said that it was one of her favorites, too. We talked a bit about how it was neat to look closely at things that you don't normally pay much attention to. It was difficult at first, but I was really glad that I'd gone back to talk to her.

Dinner with Kaori, Tomomi and Charlie was amazing. We talked about all sorts of things, (Charlie is really easy to talk with, in English or in Japanese) and the Nabe was delicious. Kaori and Tomomi had put in mushrooms, noodles, chicken, beef, tofu, cabbage, daikon radish, mochi... probably more, too! It was a wonderful way to spend our last night with Charlie.

Kaori, Tomomi, Charlie and I enjoying some tasty Nabe at Kaori's place

The next day, Kaori and I dropped Charlie off at the ferry terminal. I was sorry to see him go, but was also preoccupied with how soon I'll be returning, too. Charlie, having been in Japan for a year, has had lots of crazy experiences, and has also dealt with all of the ups and downs with traveling aboard. It was really a blessing to be able to talk about a lot of things, things both at Evergreen, and in Japan with him. I was also really grateful to have someone to spend time with while Jill was gone, since Shiva, while sometimes friendly, isn't much of a conversationalist.

Farewell, Charlie! Have a safe trip back to Kobe!

As things are starting to wrap up here, and my trip comes to a close, there's... a lot that I want to say. But! I'm rushing out the door right now, since I want to meet Jillian at the bus stop when she comes back from her trip! So... that reflection will have to wait! (Sorry!) Thanks for reading, and whew! Lots of writing today. Sorry it was all kind of slapdash and a little rushed. Until next time! (Other stuff happened that I missed, too!)

PS Note Disclaimer Thing - Some of the pictures I've used were originally taken by Charlie, Midori, or Jillian. Just f.y.i. They're probably the good pictures, since my pictures usually turn out kinda blah. That's all!

A New Challenger Approaches!! (Day 2) - Cape Toi

2008-03-01T22:56:00.000-08:00

After leaving Kojima Island, we hit kind of a snag in our plan to go to Cape Toi. Due to typhoon damage, a large part of the road was being worked on, but the construction workers pointed us toward a detour.

This road was really narrow, and also got dangerously steep...

Kaori was getting really worried driving on such a strange path, and Charlie commented that it really seemed about the size of a walking path, not a road. I was personally really grateful that I wasn't the one driving, but was curious as to what we would do if someone came up from the other direction. (The construction workers, we found out later, had radios with which to prevent this from happening) Fortunately, we made it alive to Cape Toi, the Cape of Horses!

Um, thanks for the welcome, but could you please get out of the way?

At Cape Toi, we went to the horse museum, which was a sort of natural history exhibition that explained the effect of the horses on the ecosystem. According to Kaori, the horses were probably brought to Cape Toi by samurai in the past three hundred years or so who were using them for war, but no longer needed them. Ever since, the horses have just kind of stayed there.

Two of my favorite things at the museum were the deer mystery, and the folktales. The deer mystery is that there's one male deer who lives in the cape among the horses, who seems to think he is a horse. Nobody knows how he get there, since there aren't really any deer in the area, so the most likely theory is that he somehow swam there. The horses have for the most part accepted him into the community, fortunately. There were some really cute pictures, but I didn't take any pictures in the museum, since I'm not sure if that's okay or not.

The other really fascinating the was the folktales. My favorite one was about when the gods were deciding the lifespan of the various beings on earth. The short story is that when the gods asked horses how long of a life they wanted, they turned down the initial 40 years offered to them, saying that 40 year is too long of a life for a horse, since they work so hard. They settled on 20, and that's why horses live such short lives. Next was the dog, who also didn't want a really long life, saying that with old age comes suffering - they didn't want to have problems with being sickly or immobile, so they would have a short life of only 10 years. Finally, came humans, who, when offered 40 years to live, complained that that wasn't enough time for them to do everything they wanted to do. So, the gods decided that they would give humans the extra years that the other animals didn't want, but at a price. They decided that when humans turn 30, they need to work as hard a horse, since they were taking the years that the horse turned down, and when they turned 60, they would suffer from their bodies debilitating, since they were taking the years the dog had turned down.

Or something like that. I might be a bit off on the numbers, but I really liked the story.

Oops... poor lighting! Due to contact issues, I had to don my glasses. Luckily for Jill, her hat didn't run away during the boat ride!

After the museum, we all started to get pretty hungry, since we hadn't really eaten at all that day. (Jill had brought some chocobread, but it can only go so far!) Still, we had a lot of things that we wanted to see before heading back, which was unfortunate since there's not a whole lot of civilization, and thus not a lot of food, out on the cape. What was worse, I was having some problems with my contract lenses, and eventually ended up just trashing them for lack of supplies. (My fault)

We made a quick visit to a little shrine in an odd spot on a cliff, and once again, I saw a tiny path, and got curious - finding another mini secret shrine in the wilderness!

Okay, it's not much of a shrine, but still an interesting find!

Next up we stopped by the Cape Toi lighthouse, where we were grateful to find a small omiyage shop. Fortunately for us, where there's omiyage (souvenirs) there's food! Granted, it was just snacks like dried fruit and things, but still delicious and satisfying! Once we were sated, we made our way up the hill to the lighthouse.

Cape Toi Lighthouse

I'm actually a pretty big fan of lighthouses, despite not knowing all that much about them. On a field trip along the Olympic Peninsula with my American Literature class last year, we were supposed to visit some, but I got hopelessly lost in the woods instead. (Whoops) This one, while small, was still pretty neat, and had an amazing view!

The view from the lighthouse - isn't is beautiful?

Throughout the day Charlie had commented on how he couldn't believe it was February with the amazing weather we'd been having. Of course, it was a little windy since we were so close to the sea, but the sun was shining brightly and the sky and water were both so clear that it was hard to complain.

Kaori and Charlie demonstrating the presence of the wind

After a quick visit to the mini-lighthouse museum on the top of the hill, (Lots of information about the development of lighthouses in Japan, and some pictures and examples of the inventors and their lightbulbs) we began the journey back to Miyazaki. Not a moment to soon, too, 'cause we were all starving! Kaori and Charlie took the opportunity to catch up a bit while Jill and I snoozed in the back of the car. Thanks to Kaori, we were able to make it back over that treacherous narrow road once again, although I was able to sleep through the terror of traveling over it this time.

When we got back - yakinikku! Oh my goodness, was it amazing. We had to call it an early night, since Jillian was going to be leaving at 8:30 the next morning for her field trip, but while she slept Charlie and I watched The Taste of Tea, which felt kind of like a cross between I Heart Huckabees and Little Miss Sunshine, except that I think Tea came first, and was like, ten times better than the other two combined. (Don't get me wrong, both of the American movies were great, but this movie totally floored me. I actually cried!)

Jill, Kaori, Charlie and I preparing to feast on the roasted flesh of various animals. (Apparently, one of the things we ate were cow's ears... I had no idea!)

So, yes. Whew... almost caught up. I've got to finish posting before Jill gets back! Type type type the day away...

A New Challenger Approaches!! (Day 2) - Kojima Island

2008-03-01T22:26:00.001-08:00

Thursday was set to be another travel day, with Kaori playing chauffeur. (Thank you so much for driving, Kaori!) Luckily for us, the weather was amazing, and the drive was nearly as scenic and gorgeous as the destination.

Miyazaki-ken shoreline as seen from Kaori's car. The water is super clear! (I missed the Devil's Washboard again... sorry all!)

The drive took us about an hour and a half or so, and since Jillian was the only one who has actually been to Kojima Island before, we had to be careful about directions. (Jillian, thankfully, has a really good memory, and the map Midori gave us was really handy)

There it is, Kojima Island! You can kind of see the little dock stretching out on the right side of the picture

Something interesting about the island that Jill told us is that it only recently, like within the last fifty years or so, became an island. A big storm washed away the land bridge that used to connect the island to the coast, so the monkeys that live there are now pretty much completely isolated. For a biologist like Jillian, it makes for really interesting study.

For non-biologists like this goofy crew, it's mostly just fun and pretty, but also interesting

Unfortunately for us, we couldn't find a boat, and far too late discovered that in order to get to the island, you're supposed to call ahead and make a reservation. While Charlie and Kaori planned out what to do next, Jill and I explored the beach.

Ooh, pretty sea shells!

A sad little sea star skeleton. Rest in peace, Mr. (Or Ms.) Starfish.

Fortunately for us, Kaori got really lucky and was able to contact the boat guy, who was literally at the parking lot in less than five minutes after the phone call. He said that he could take us to the island, (for the regular price of about $10 per person) but that he couldn't guarantee that we'd see the monkeys. They usually only come out to play in the morning, and since it was about 1:00 or so when we got there, they'd probably gone into hiding or were looking for food.

Still wanting to see the island, we decided to go with him, so he took us on his little boat and we went out to cruise around the island.

Here is the little cove where the monkeys are said to usually play, unfortunately, as he warned, it was deserted.

It would be dishonest to say that we weren't a little disappointed, but we couldn't say he didn't warn us, either. He told us that sometimes, though, you can find the monkeys in other spots, and that he knew of some likely places they might be hiding. So, after making sure it was okay with us, he took us to another spot he thought they might be likely to be.

Wait a minute, what's that on those rocks over there?

Oh my god! They're adorable!

The boat man pulled up to the shore and told us that we could disembark on the rocks, but that we couldn't bring any food with us, and that we should not touch the monkeys. Pictures, obviously, were okay to take. As he tossed the monkeys some nuts, they basically went berserk, and some of them even started fighting! It was a little scary at first, but he assured us that we were safe.

While the bigger monkeys chased each other around, these little guys waited off to the side for it to be safe for scrounge around for nuts.

Jillian was able to identify which monkey was the troop leader, and the boat man, (who I think might also have been a researcher) told us a lot of things about the monkeys and how they live in the island. Unfortunately for me, he had a semi-strong Miyazaki-ben, and also spoke really fast, so I couldn't understand most of what he was saying. He apologized for not knowing English, but thought it was really neat that we'd come all the way from America to see these monkeys. The monkeys, apparently not afraid of humans at all, were pretty comfortable with us being close.

Some of them came up REALLY close

When it came time to return to the shore, we were all sad to go. The boat guy could make the monkey sing, too, which was a really neat way to depart. He made a noise that went kind of like ロロロロ　or "Ro Ro Ro Ro!" and all of the monkeys would respond in a kind of singsong shouting. To be completely honest, the noise they make is kind of like a pig's squeal, at least to my ears, but together they would made a kind of melody. It was really amazing, and cemented the memory remarkably.

さよなら、おさるさん！Goodbye, monkeys! We'll miss you!

On our way back to the shore, the boat man also cruised around a bit more and high speed, taking some really sharp turns to kind of tip the boat around a bit. He told us to hang on and send the boat soaring over the waves. It was scary, but hilariously fun! Jill had to hang onto her hat tightly. After bidding the man farewell and thanking him for such an amazing experience, we headed out to Cape Toi.

A New Challenger Approaches!! (Day 1) - Midori

2008-03-01T22:04:00.000-08:00

Charlie arrived on Wednesday - in time for lunch with Hirase-Sensei! He also brought along a damsel in distress. Er... he also brought along my luggage. Long story short, I left some stuff in Kobe because I thought I'd be coming back sooner than I actually did. And by some, I mean a lot. Basically, all of the gifts Jill and I have been buying for everyone back home. It's a pretty big suit case... thanks again, Charlie!

Wednesday night we had dinner with our friend Midori, who is had just finished up preparations for a big exhibition. She was kind enough to host, and invited Jillian, Charlie, Kaori and I to spend the evening with her.

Kaori, Jillian, Midori, Charlie and I. This is the "Serious" picture. You'll see why later.

To my embarrassment, Jillian did all of the cooking on our end. She made the amazing chicken nanban that Kaori's mother taught her the recipe for. Kaori and Midori also made a really tasty udon dish, salad, and rice, and Midori also shared an amazing crunchy apple pie with us, as well as ice cream, edamame, and some snacks from her exhibition. Kaori, in addition to helping Midori with ingredients and cooking, also brought the drinks. Charlie and I felt really bad, but they assured is that it was okay. (Jillian had also planned to make french toast, but we were all so throughout stuffed already, and with plenty of leftovers!)

Quite a feast!

Charlie, being amazing at Japanese, helped conversation flow quite quickly, and Kaori, Midori, Jillian and Charlie were always ready to help me if I didn't understand something. Midori also helped Jill, Charlie, Kaori and I plan our trip for the next day. We chatted all night about things ranging from German sweets (which Midori also shared with us) to Japanese Love Hotels, and didn't leave until nearly midnight. (Midori is a bit of a night owl, it seems) It's always really interesting to chat with Midori and Kaori, who have both been to Evergreen, and both know English really well. Midori is actually a really international person, and has traveled to parts of Europe, America, and Asia. (Probably more!) She also knows French, and maybe German? I'm not sure. Midori has helped Jillian and I out a lot with making reservations and things throughout our trip, and even helped me get my flight ticket for leaving Miyazaki for Japan. Such an amazing person!

And now, the silly picture. Jill and Midori are making mustaches with their hair. Me... well, I'm just being creepy.

And so, we were all planned out for the next day. On the agenda was Kojima island, famous for its monkeys, (YAY!) and Cape Toi, famous for its horses. (Also yay!) Jillian and I had wanted to go to Midori's exhibition, but since Jillian was leaving for her GSO trip to Nagasaki / Saga on Saturday, she wasn't going to be able to go. (Kaori, Charlie and I were able to attend, though - more on that later!)

So, yes. Next time: Kojima and Cape Toi. Yahoo!

Quick Pix - Dinner with the Maeda Girls

2008-03-01T21:47:00.000-08:00

Monday and Tuesday Jill and I took it pretty easy, although on Monday night, Kaori was kind enough to invite Jillian and I over for dinner. She wanted me to meet her sisters, and it was also kind of a mini-goodbye party.

Rumi, (Youngest) Kaori, (Eldest) Tomomi (Second-born) and Jillian.

The girls made Takoyaki, which is nearly as fun to make as it is to eat! Normally it's kind of a fair food, and one time at Evergreen, Kaori had a Takoyaki party at Jillian's. It's a really fun sort of group thing to do. Our Takoyaki had varying ingredients including mochi, cheese, octopus, sausage, green peppers and potato. Tasty tasty.

Tomomi, Jillian, me, and Rumi

The Maeda family is really sweet, and I'm really glad that I finally got to meet Kaori's sisters! Rumi and Tomomi are both studying to be nurses, and also work part time. Busy busy.

Wait, this is completely unrelated! There's Jill on the right, Hirase-Sensei in the middle, and whose shirt is that on the left? Could it be...? (This poorly-taken picture was the result of my camera's batteries dying at a critical moment. This is at one of our Wednesday day lunches with Hirase-Sensei. Present are Max, Charlie, Hirase-Sensei, Jill, Kaori, and me. We just... can't see them all.

Whew! Almost through with the posts! Just a little bit more...

Aya ~ Hina Matsuri

2008-03-01T21:02:00.000-08:00

Whoops, fake-out. We did lots of other things before Charlie came, but he's coming up, I promise!

On the day after we got back from Fukuoka, Satomi was kind enough to offer to take us to Aya, a small town to the North of Miyazaki. She wanted to spend some time together before she leaves for her trip to Singapore, and suggested that we go and visit the Hina Matsuri festival. She even offered to provide Jillian with a kimono to wear, which was super sweet of her.

Satomi and Jillian in Aya, aren't they lovely?

Although Jill and I were kind of dazed from our Northwest Kyushu trip, we still had a fantastic time. I also got to meet Satomi's parents, although only briefly. (We stopped by her place to pick up some hair accessories) I was honestly a tiny bit jealous since I had dressed slightly boringly, but my envy didn't last. Satomi took us to a really cool traditional restaurant in Aya with really pretty and fancy food.

Rice, Miso Soup, and Croquettes

Ack... I forgot to take pictures until after I'd eaten most of the food... the presentation looks like it was pretty nice though, huh?

The Hina matsuri Festival, which I wrote about back here, happens in the springtime, so the weather was conveniently agreeable on Sunday. (It was especially good for Jill and Satomi, since kimonos are kind of hard to get around in.) There were lots of people out and about looking at all of the dolls, which were on display all throughout the town. There was even a map that you could stamp after you visited each spot, and the map specified which doll collections were owned privately (by families) and which ones were owned by companies or businesses in the area.

One of the company-owned doll collections

Something I noticed pretty quickly is that Jillian was attracting a lot of attention. After closer inspection, I realized that she was probably one of only a handful of foreigners in Aya, since it's a pretty small town, and definitely was the only one wearing a kimono. Pretty much every five minutes someone would approach us and compliment Jillian on how lovely she was. We heard 「ああ、かわいい！」　(Wow, cute!) 「きれいな！」　(Beautiful!) 「すてき！」 (Nice!) more times that day than I could count. I think that Jill was a little embarrassed, but she was definitely having a good time. I couldn't help but smile and feel really fortunate to be so close to someone so bright and lovely.

Satomi and Jillian at one of the doll displays

Jillian being offered to come get some あめのわたあめ、almost literally "cotton candy"

One of the community centers was showing some really pretty kimonos, and also serving some special soup at a really inexpensive price. The town was also littered with street vendors selling handmade wares. It was had really nice community feel that's hard to find in big cities.

A public kimono display - the kimonos were owned by families living in Aya

Childrens' photo spot - none of us could easily fit into these, least of all the ladies in their kimonos

One of the collest doll collections we saw was one owned by a local middle school. Not only were the dolls impressive, but they'd also made a neat little mountain landscape for the dolls to sit next to.

A landscape like this would cost hundreds of dollars in a store! Maybe even over a thousand!

Aya also provided a great opportunity to practice Japanese. While Jillian and Satomi visited the restroom, (Which is quite an endeavor in those kimonos...) I chatted with a father from Oita who had brought his wife and two daughters to come see the dolls. While with Jill and Satomi, we also gave a woman directions who was looking for a particular doll display. (Giving the directions was easy, trying to figure out which one she wanted to go to was the hard part)

After visiting the dolls, we went to Aya castle, which isn't a huge castle, but was still neat to go visit.

The mini-bridge Aya Castle - on the grounds is also an international art museum

I'm not familiar with the history of Aya Castle, but there were still some neat exhibits inside.

Wait a minute, the symbol on this chestplate looks familiar...

These men are made of wax. They don't speak.

Castle interior - it was very creaky and drafty

These stairs are steep and slippery. They were challenge for me even, so I can't imagine what it must have been like for those in more restrictive clothing. (Again, sorry, girls in kimonos!)

Luckily, despite the steep stairs and poorly-fitting slippers. (Visitors in the castle are provided with slippers, which are kind of dangeorus large) the three of us made it out alive. Props to Jill and Satomi for surviving! It was really neat to be able to experience Hina Matsuri first-hand, especially in a small town like Aya.

Oh! Jillian got attacked by the blink-monster. :(

Whew! Four days in a row of traveling! It was really nice to see Satomi again before we both left Japan, though. I'm really grateful that Jillian has so many good friends here in Miyazaki. As I prepare to leave, I can take comfort in knowing that she'll be well taken care of.

Coming soon: Charlie arrives!

Northwest Kyushu - Revisited (Day Three) - Dazaifu

2008-03-01T20:21:00.000-08:00

On the third and last day of our trip, Jillian and I went to the Ancient City Dazaifu, where the Tenmangu Shrine (Temple of Knowledge~) that I'd visted before is located. Jillian got to try fresh Umeage Mochi, and we also tried some of the strange soft cream flavors. (Hokkaido Melon and Ume - Plum, nothing as adventurous as Wasabi or Tofu, regrettably)

This time, there was a monkey there. My initial reaction was, "Oh god, poor monkey!" but Jillian assured me that some monkeys actually really like the training, praise, and especially the attention.

Being a Saturday, this day was also another day for a packed temple. Although the time for entrance exams had passed, there's still lots of tourists who come to this spot, although there were slightly less students. (Still lots, though) We made it a point to spend more time exploring the grounds, since I hadn't done as much of that last time.

Here's a picture of an Uso, or Bullfinch, that is famous in Dazaifu. Jill bought a little one with a fortune inside, but it was an unlucky one so she tied the fortune up with the other bad luck ones.

The bullfinches are neat because the little totemy-things that you can buy are supposed to have the power to turn bad luck into good luck.

I really, really wanted to find Tobiume, the legendary plum tree, since I didn't get to see it last time. What I'd learned on this trip is that I had actually found the tree, I'd actually stood next to it for a good ten minutes or so without knowing. The problem was that I simply couldn't read its kanji.

Here it is - the Legendary Tobiume!

The tree actually has different kanji than the kanji used for my car's name, though. (The "ume" is the same, but the "tobi" for my car means "flying" while the tree's means, um... something else) Still - cool to see!

Some people inside the temple

Some tourists were actually able to go into the shrine itself, but the line of people waiting to go in was really long, so we decided to go around the back of the temple instead, where there were more shops and tombs and things.

Around back, there were these wooden wish things, or ema. They had a really cool noise when they were all rattled by the blowing wind

Okay, so now I've got a lot of pictures, and some short comments, so this'll be a string of pictures and captions next. (Show them, don't tell them, and for goodness sake, don't tell them you're telling them! You're breaking the fourth wall! Stop it already!)

Also around the back of the shrine... hey, is that a path back there?

Hey, it is! But what do those signs say? Where does this lead?

What's this staircase? After about twenty minutes of hiking through woodland hills, we climbed up these steps...

Whoa, a secret shrine in the woods! This isn't nearly as busy as Tenmangu... but wait, what about what's behind this shrine?

Shock! A third shrine! Behind this little cave was a steep tumble down a hill, so I don't think there was a fourth one behind it, but who knows?

I was really glad that Jillian and I were able to return to Dazaifu, and even more happy that we were able to find the secret, secluded shrine in the woods. Jill commented that Dazaifu kind of reminded her of Leavenworth, where I took her for our six-month Anniversary. In a way, since it's kind of an out-of-the-way place with a social scene completely different from that of Fukuoka, it did seem kind of similar to the little Bavarian tourist town. We both agreed that Kevin, a close family friend, would definitely probably enjoy the natural beauty of the area, which actually made me really homesick. I kind of hope that my family can come to Japan sometime too, but am not sure if they're interested or not. The language barrier would also be undoubtedly difficult, but that's what Jill and I are for, right? There's just so much to experience and taste and see here, but at the very least I'm glad that we can share some of it all with our blogs.

Before catching a bus back to Miyazaki, we decided that it would be good to eat, since we probably wouldn't have a chance to for another five hours or so. Given the choice, I of course chose Okonomiyaki, but this time we were able to make it ourselves!

Whaddya think? Looks pretty good, huh?

Actually, although we had all of the ingredients right in front of us, the fact remained that neither Jill or I actually know how to make Okonomiyaki, so we had a lot of help from one of the waiters. She was really nice about it, and showed us how to mix everything together and the proper flipping technique. She actually did most of the work while Jill and I watched, since we were really hungry, and didn't want to ruin our meal due to lack of proficiency - not knowing how long to cook something is definitely not a good thing! It was of course, delicious.

Whew! So... that's the short story of the trip. We did lots of other stuff too, but I'm trying to cram a lot of things in at once here! Sadly, my trip is coming to an end, and I want to get all of this stuff out there before I return. Things have been really busy lately, (Sean Williams, my gracious professor, warned me about this!) mostly because leaving a place in Japan is much more of an ordeal than simply packing and taking off. Proper farewells need to be made, and everyone has been super kind and hospitable - it's just a little exhausting!

Next up: A New Challenger Approaches! Charlie comes to Miyazaki~~ (Yay!)

Northwest Kyushu - Revisited (Day Two) - Nagasaki

2008-03-01T19:26:00.000-08:00

Nagasaki was a Day Trip from Fukuoka for us, (about two hours or so away) but we got a bit of a late start. Jillian was going to be going to Nagasaki with the Miyazaki University GSO (Global Student Organization) again the subsequent weekend, so I didn't want to visit things that she would be visiting again the next week. (Namely, the Atomic Bomb Museum and Peace Memorial)

Nagasaki Skyline from the Bus Station

Instead, we went to Dejima first, which is something I'd studied about back at Evergreen. During the isolation edict put in place by the Tokugawa Shogunate, all foreigners were only allowed to trade on a tiny island off the coast of Nagasaki called Dejima. Most of the traders were Dutch, although some Portuguese lived on the island, too. During the Napoleonic Wars, Dejima was actually the only place in the world to fly the Dutch Flag, since the Netherlands had been conquered by the French. (Or something like that, I think. I'm hazy on that bit of history)

The Dejima Island Recreation

Since the time when the original Dejima existed, the surrounding area has become developed to the point that Dejima isn't an island out in the middle of the sea anymore, but now an island in the middle of a city. The island, run mostly by volunteer tour guides, has recreations of everything from factories to living quarters, and has lots of artifacts and exhibits from the 1800's. They had some comparison now-and-then pictures, and it was really amazing to see just how much the area has changed in just 200 year or so.

A model of Dejima island, um... also on Dejima island

Having been around before the Meiji Area, Dejima also played a major part in advancing Japan's technology, although it was heavily controlled by the Tokugawa Shogunate. Dejima was also the first place that things like glass windows and wallpaper really became readily available in Japan, since it was the only place where such products could be easily made or imported.

Nagasaki's めがね橋　or Meganebashi "Spectacle Bridge" - the oldest stone bridges in Japan. It's called the spectacle bridge because the reflection in the water makes the bridge look kinda like glasses.

Our next stop was Shinchi Chinatown, Japan's oldest Chinese district. Coming here was one of, (but not the only) time that I wasn't sure it would be easier for me to speak to people in English or in Japanese, since a lot of Chinese people in Japan know English.

Bridge into Shinchi Chinatown

All in all, it was actually pretty similar to the International District in Seattle, except being just Chinese, instead of a mix of Asian cultures. The foods there all looked amazing and delicious, and the architecture and artwork were even more stunning.

"Oh, it's that dragon-turtle-serpent thing!" Jill's words, not mine! Apparently this is famous, but I'd never heard of it.

We also wanted to visit at least one temple in Nagasaki, and found one after a bit of an urban hike deep in the heart of Nagasaki.

I'm realizing that I should have done this post sooner after the trip, when our pamphlets were still handy...

This Shrine, um... Shrine X, was a Zen Temple that had been partially destroyed by fire but has since been, um, partially restored. Unexpectedly, they actually had English and, oddly enough, German pamphlets about the history of the temple. To be honest, we came here because on our map, there was a picture of a fish next to this temple, so we thought we were going to see lots of really big koi or something, but no such luck.

They had a really cute garden, but alas... fishless

Since we had a two-hour bus ride ahead of us, we thought that around 5:00 would be a good time to start heading back. On the way, though we noticed that we actually passed a bunch of koi multiple times while walking around.

Oh, there they are!

The koi live in all of the little rivers and creeks that run though Nagasaki, although I have no idea what they eat. Since the day was overcast, it began to get dark before we even got on the bus, but our day didn't end immediately upon our return to Hakata - there was still one other place I wanted to check...

Nakasu-Kawabata: Fukuoka's Entertainment District

Before Jillian came to Japan for her year-long study, we met a lawyer at a benefit party while waitering at my uncles' house for Rosehedge. (Those are my uncles on the "Love without Boundaries" gala card, actually - it's a really good organization, so if you're not familiar with it, check it out!) When he heard that we were going to be going to Japan, he insisted that we go to Fukuoka. "You've got to go to Fukuoka" he told us, but we weren't exactly sure why he wanted us to go. I think this district might have been why.

A row of Yatais - or street restaurants near the river. These popular stalls disappear during the day, and are almost always packed full of people.

Since it was a friday night, this area was PACKED. Businesspeople, tourists, college students, all kinds of people go to Nakasu for its over 2,000 dining, drinking, and um... other stuff-ing establishments.

What's this? Hmm...

If may be hard to read from this pictures, but these are advertisements for "Soap Lands," or als "Men's Baths." These used to be called "Turkish Baths," or "Turkos," but the Turkish Government asked the Japanese Government to call them something else. If you look closely, you'll see that at these bath houses, you can "take a bath" for sixty minutes for about niman yen. (About $200) Hey, wait a minute... $200 for an hour-long bath? What're they charging so much for- oh... I see...

Not all of the places in Nakasu are so lascivious, though. There's plenty of "Host Clubs" and "Hostess Bars," which are advertised by people standing around on the street handing out tissues with their bars address on them. Hostess bars are basically a place where single men, or groups of single men go to drink and be served by women in lingerie. There's probably also some thigh-rubbing and flirting involved, but understanding is that it never goes beyond that. Host clubs are the opposite, cute guys who serve women, but while there's less Host Clubs than Hostess Bars, their numbers are supposedly growing, and it's not always just women who to go Host Clubs, either. (Er... I only know so much about this stuff because it's in the books I've been reading about Japanese Culture. Seriously. I've never actually been to one before, I promise!)

When we finally made our way back to the hostel, we watched Whisper of the Heart, and older Hayao Miyazaki movie about a girl in Tokyo. It's a little difficult to explain, but is really touching. It was from this movie that I learned that John Denver's Country Roads is a commonly known song in Japan, since a Japanese version is taught to students in elementary school.

Jill caught me snoozing

End of day two: Come back next time for our final day of INTENSE, HIGH IMPACT TRAVEL! Yeah!

Northwest Kyushu - Revisited (Day One) - Fukuoka

2008-03-01T16:57:00.000-08:00

Literally! My second trip to Fukuoka was even more amazing than the first - in a big way because Jillian was with me. We purchased a man-yen (About $100) Sun-Q ticket that gave us free access to nearly all of Kyushu's buses, including local buses in every city on the southern island.

Some large Japanese buses have stairs down into their lavatories

We arrived in Hakata around noon, and our first initiative was to find somewhere to eat. After a quick bite at Mos Burger, (one of Jill's favorites - kind of an all-natural fast food joint, or something) we headed to Canal City Hakata, which was one of the places I'd wanted to see last time but didn't have a chance to visit.

Canal City Hakata

This pretty mall, while more impressive at night, is a multi-story, multi-building shopping center with a lovely canal running through its middle. Its stores were pretty expensive, and it kind of reminded me of Bellevue Square in Washington, except with a water show. Essentially, they had kind of a scaled-down version of the choreographed fountain show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. It was lovely, but difficult to photograph.

We also ran into this guy...

Unfortunately for me, the Robot Museum, where you can "touch, see, and experience the cutting edge of robot technology!" has closed down, so when we went to Hakata City Riverrain, we could not see robots. Luckily, Canal City Hakata has two robots, one blue, and one pink. We met the blue one, (above) who could speak Japanese, English, and Chinese! He also liked to have his belly touched, which was equipped with a touch-screen full of information about Hakata Canal City and the surrounding area. He roamed around the mall making R2-D2-esque noises when not occupied.

Moomin Cafe - Moomin is a Finnish character from the 1940's that is really popular here

Before moving on, we treated ourselves to some Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream. It may not seem like a new experience, but Baskin-Robbins in Japan is totally different from America's! Not only do they have some unique flavors that we simply don't have, (like Musk Melon, Popping Shower, and "Matcha" or green tea) but instead of a Flavor of the Month, Japan's flavors are seasonal in that they move in three month cycles. So, in February, you can have the flavors of the month from January, February, and March! Last month, (February) they had Holiday Raspberry Cake, (January) Ghost World, (January) Love Potion 31, (February) Skating Pears, (February) Cherry Blossom, (March) and a bunch more that I can't remember.

Still, despite their wide array of flavors, nothing beats the even more popular soft cream, (soft serve ice cream) served all over in Japan - even at some shrines! See my Dazaifu post from a few weeks ago for an overview of some of those wacky flavors.

Hakataza Kabuki Theatre - Near Hakata Riverrain

Riverrain itself is another huge shopping center, although itself not quite as interesting as Canal City. Nearby are the Hakataza Kabuki and Fukuoka Art Museum, but this time we didn't stop by these two. (Just passed by) Riverrain is full of more expensive shops, and also has a hotel, the closed-down robot museum, and, oddly enough, a little shrine as well.

What's this shrine doing in the middle of a city?

Actually, shrines like these popping up in an urban setting are a pretty common occurrence in Japan, although I prefer the ones in a more secluded, natural setting personally.

Not to be outdone, there are Christian Churches in the city, too

After traipsing around town a while, we decided that it would probably be a good idea to check into our hotel, which was a little hostel near a large park a little ways away from the Fukuoka Castle ruins. Jillian really wanted to go to the Fukuoka City Zoo and Botanical Gardens, so we caught a bus to go check it out.

You've found the map! Now you just need the compass and the dungeon key and you're set...

The zoo in Fukuoka boasts hundreds of animal species, ranging from Canadian Geese to African Elephants. Unfortunately though, one big problem about having a zoo in a large city where there's hardly enough space for people... well, it means that the animals didn't have much space, either.

This pelican's living space is smaller than Jillian's dorm room... I'm not sure who needs more space, though.

Some of the animals, especially the big ones, looked really sleepy and agitated. Jillian, having studied animal behavioral patterns at Evergreen, commented that a lot of them seemed to be pacing around, or performing noticeably repetitive actions. Apparently, this is a sign of boredom.

This kangaroo was extra bored, but at least looked pretty relaxed

Seeing the animals, while fun, was also a little sad. At the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, they've kept some of their old cages around from the 70's - empty - with signs explaining how the old cages have become obsolete, and why they've upgraded to new, more enriching environments for the animals. Fukuoka's zoo, however, uses those same cages that Woodland Park has deemed "obsolete." It was a really surprising contrast to the amazing aquarium we'd see in Kagoshima, although this zoo did also have some educational exhibits, too.

A comparison of raptor wing-spans - they have one of those huge ones at the zoo, but he was sleeping.

It's easy for me to say all of these things, though, since I don't know what the financial status of this zoo is or anything like that. I'm sure that if I had a better understanding if what their budgets and things were like, I'd probably be a bit less critical. I'm definitely comfortable saying that I'm probably a bit spoiled when it comes to zoos, since the Pacific Northwest is lucky enough to have a bunch of really nice ones in the area. (Woodland Park, Seattle Aquarium, Point Defiance, Portland, and so on)

Jillian fed this friendly giraffe some bread, provided by a zoo keeper, of course

Despite feeling sorry for the animals, though, we still had a nice time. Because the zoo and botanical gardens closed at 5:00, though, we didn't get a chance to visit the latter. There's always next time, though!

"Wait, Jillian! Please take me with you!"

After the zoo, we made our way back to the hostel on the outskirts of Fukuoka and had an early night - it had been a long day of traveling (over 6 hours total spend on buses and subways!) and we were planning to hop another bus for Nagasaki the next morning.

So... yeah. Nagasaki. That's next!

Do you want to go to the ｓeaside?

2008-02-15T07:46:00.000-08:00

I'm not trying to say that everybody wants to go...

Update time! On Wednesday, Jillian and I went to Udo Jingu, or Udo Shrine, which is on the coast about a half hour drive from the university. We hadn't seen Kaori in a little while, so we were happy to go out and visit such a beautiful place with her. (Jill has been to Udo Jingu twice already, and posted about one of her visits here.)

A lovely view of the ocean - you can see some tiny figures fishing on the rocks on the right side of the picture if you look really closely!

We left the college at about two in the afternoon with Kaori, since she'd had a presentation that morning. Along the way, we passed the Devil's Washboard in Aoshima, which I unfortunately couldn't get a good picture of since we were moving. Unlike the sandy beaches of Hawaii or the pebbly beaches of Olympia, the Devil's Washboard is a really unique formation that has a weird sort of angular washboard-like look to it. (It's worth it to Google or Wiki it if you'd like to see a picture)

An observation Jill made about the view was that in Japan, or at least in Kyushu, there isn't really a tree line like in Washington. That is to say, when one looks at the mountains here, they're entirely covered with green. Also, the trees go almost all the way to the water, except where people have developed the land.

Along the way, we almost ran over this little fellow:

Why, hello there!

Luckily, Kaori saw him in time and slowed down. At first, he ran back into his little hole, which gave me the chance to snap this picture. Kaori had never seen one of these before, either. We think that he may have been some kind of たぬき, (TaNuKi - or raccoon dog) but we weren't entirely sure.

Run, run little guy! Whew... he made it across the road safely.

"Raccoon" seems like kind of a poor comparison for these things, since they're very different from the raccoons we usually see around Evergreen. If you're a Mario fan, you might recognize the word "tanuki" from Mario 3, where Mario can don a Tanuk Suit, that makes him look like a raccoon. (Or, maybe you're not a huge nerd and have no idea what I'm talking about. ^^) Actually though, this guy looked kind of weasely... in any case, we can speculate about what he is later.

Ah, Udo Jingu, the shrine by the sea...

Lucky for us, Wednesday was really sunny in Aoshima, although a bit windy. Unlike the last time Jillian, Kaori, Charlie and Max had come here, it was nice and dry out, so the climb down the stairs to the small cavern in a cliff where the shrine is wasn't the slippery, treacherous scramble they'd had to deal with before.

Jill and Kaori at the shrine. Almost more amazing than the structure itself is the cave it resides in - the rock formations are amazingly interesting.

One thing I might not have mentioned before about shrines is that there's always a place where one washes their hands before coming into the grounds. Men also, (if they're brave) are supposed to wash their mouths with the water as well, but not everybody does so.

Udo Jingu has a cool, but scary dragon at its hand-washing pool to ensure 100% cooperation. If one fails to wash, he promptly soaks you with a blast of icy water. (Not really, but wouldn't that be awesome?)

To my surprise, there were a lot of people at the shrine when were there. Not as many as when I went to Dazaifu, but still quite a few. When we asked Kaori about it, she explained that ever since Higashi Sonomanma (remember that guy in the orange robe I wrote about before?) became governor, the tourist trade in Miyazaki prefecture had been revitalized and boosted in a much-needed way. Tourists come to Miyazaki from all over Japan now, whereas it was considered to be kind of a backwater before the new governor came along.

This is a good luck bunny inside the cave.

Jill, Kaori and I pet this bunny on its head for good luck. Jillian's Chinese zodiac is ウサギ、(USaGi - rabbit,) mine is トラ、(ToRa - tiger) and Kaori's is 牛, (うし、UShi, Bull or Cow.) We thought that it was kind of neat that all of our birth signs go in a row! (1985 - Jill, 1986 - Moi, 1987 - Kaori-san) For Jill, this bunny is extra-lucky, I think.

Another thing we saw at the shrine were a bunch of えま、(EMa) which are the flat, wooden things in the picture below. Kaori explained to me that the kanji for ema are the kanji for picture (e) next to the kanji for horse (uma). In some of the books I'm reading for my contract, the authors often state that Japanese people seem to think in pictures, or pictures of words, rather than words. Being exposed to so much kanji here, I'm beginning to understand that a little better, although I can still only recognize and read a few kanji i learned back at Evergreen, along with the ones I see here every day.

There were so many of ema, most likely from students, because this is the college entrance exam time of year. One writes their wishes on the piece of wood, and then hangs it up at the shrine with a little prayer for good luck. Students were hanging these up at Dazaifu, too, but I didn't know what they were then.

The Breast-Rock sign, and lots of 絵馬。

One particular attraction of this cave is the mother's breasts-rocks, which are a section of the rock wall that look kind of like breasts. Expecting mothers and newlyweds come to these rocks to wish for good luck. (I didn't take a picture of the rocks themselves, since they are difficult to photograph well.) It's entirely acceptable to touch the breasts, but I just couldn't bring myself to.

Something that Jill had written about when she visited Udo Jingu the last time is the throwing of rocks into a circle out in a little cove. Kaori was the only one who could manage to make it into the circle before, so I was eager to try it out!

Here is the target where you throw the clay balls. 5 tries for 100円！

What I didn't know until I purchased my tries was that traditionally at Udo Jingu, men are supposed to throw with their left hand, and women are supposed to throw with their right. It's just our luck that Jillian happens to be left-handed, and me right-handed. We got pretty close a few times, and even managed to hit the inside of the circle a few times, but they kept bouncing out or breaking - we just couldn't make it into that little pool of water!

Darn, missed again! The man next to me kept encouraging me, though. He was really nice.

After the shrine, we stopped by the お土産矢　（おみやげや、OMiYaGeYa - souvenir shop) for some soft cream. (Soft-serve ice cream) We each got Hyuganatsu, which is Miyazaki's famous fruit. (A yellow-colored citrus fruit that tastes kind of like a cross between a lemon and an orange) The woman who sold us the ice cream insisted that she give us a larger-than-normal portion, since we spoke English. (We actually ordered in Japanese, but she heard us speaking in English to each other when we were trying to decide which kind of get) We were grateful, but also a little embarrassed. The ice cream was amazing, though. Very light and refreshing, even though it was a cold day.

We also stopped by Kaori's friend Keiko's house, who Jill and Kaori hadn't seen since November. Keiko, a Miyazaki University graduate, had a baby back in September, who is an adorable and energetic baby named Nago-chan.

Kaori, Keiko, Nagomu, Jillian and I - Nago-kun was shy for this picture

Jillian and Kaori were both really surprised at how much Nagomu had grown since the last time they'd seen him. It was my first time meeting Keiko and her baby, but they were both still super nice. Kaori has an amazing talent for stopping Nago-chan from crying, and Jillian's fingers are some of Nagomu's favorite toys.

Aw... isn't he cute? He liked Jillian quite a bit. He was really shy with me, though.

We're hoping to go back to Keiko's in a few weeks to make lunch together, since she really seemed to appreciate the company. (She doesn't get out as often since she's had the baby) Keiko-san's husband works as a driving instructor near the college, so he wasn't home that day.

On the way back to Kibana, Jill saw a monkey and its baby, too! I guess before, Kaori and Jillian had seen a big family of monkeys near Udo Jingu on their last trip. I, unfortunately, missed the monkey because I was looking at the trees, but I did see a monkey that someone was keeping as a pet in their back yard from the train a few weeks ago. (It was jumping, a lot, but not on a bed.)

The only monkeys I saw this time were these road work monkeys -Of course, Japanese barriers have to be cute too, you know.

Later on, we went to pick up Rumi, Kaori's sister from the library at the nursing college, then dropped her off at work in Aoshima. Jill, Kaori and I went out for Okonomiyaki for dinner, (My favorite! Mmm...) and reflected about the trip so far and the weeks to come. It was a lovely lovely day, and spending time with Kaori is always therapeutic. Although we were sad that we couldn't share these times with our friends back at Evergreen that we used to make dinner and spend time with, Kaori seemed to take comfort in knowing that our friend Allison will be coming to study in Kobe soon, and Charlie should be coming to Miyazaki in the next few weeks to visit before returning to the states, too.

Thursday was Saint Valentine's Day, which Jill and I spent together on a little date downtown. The morning was spent cleaning, though, since the International Dormitory at Miyazaki University that Jill lives in had their end-of-semester cleaning day on Wednesday morning. Pretty much everybody that lives here go together to clean all of the common areas like the hals and kitchens. It seemed a little rough to have Valentine's be the cleaning day, but at least it was taken care of in the morning instead of in the evening when people seemed to be busy. (Some girl's on Jill's floor were making home-made chocolates in the kitchen. It smelled amazing!)

An interesting thing about Valentine's Day in Japan is that only women buy chocolates and give them to men, who then give gifts to the women who gave them gifts a month later, on White Day, March 14th. Also, it's almost exclusively called Saint Valentine's Day here, not just Valentine's Day. It is, of course, just as commercialized, if not more so, than in the states. We had a nice, relaxing day on Thursday though, and I received a fantastic care package of Annie's Mac and Cheese, Valentine's Candy, and other tasty comfort snacks from home. (Thanks Mom, Kevin, Tyler, Wilson and Dan!)

Um, that's all for now. I'm sleepy. Next week - Nagasaki, Fukuoka, and I'll (hopefully) finally get around to writing that friendship thing. 'till then!

Fukuoka - 一人で

2008-02-12T07:30:00.000-08:00

Mini 日本語　Lesson: 一人で　or ひとりで or HiToRiDe means "alone" Does the horribly written translation-type stuff help anyone at all? Please let me know so that I can continue or discontinue this with, uh, knowledge. (Huh?) Normal romanji is all in lower-case, but I thought that maybe capitalizing would help differentiate what the different hiragana mean. In the case above, it's Kanji, then Hiragana, then Romanji, and then English. わかる？-　WaKaRu? - Understand? - Capiche? (In this case, Hiragana, Romanji, English, English-Slang~)

First time traveling alone in Japan - accomplished! (First time traveling, mind you, not first time-traveling, although that would be pretty cool.) Jill's tutor Satomi helped me figured out the cheapest tickets, and I made the reservation by phone. Well, okay, Jill helped, since the lady was speaking really fast and I couldn't understand her about halfway through the conversation. It was a little odd because in order to circumvent credit cards, the method of paying by phone is that after one makes a reservation, the bus company gives a number that is taken to the local convenience store. (conbini) That number is given to the clerk, who enters it into the register, verifies the name (AnSoNee-sama, in my case) and then the bus fare is paid at the convenience store. A receipt isn't even necessary upon boarding! They just look up the name and verify its been paid.

This morning on my way to the train station, (I woke up at like, 5:30 to make sure I'd get there in time) I wrote a poem, 'cause there were tons of roosters crowing. It's a poem that wishes it could be real haiku, or something.

へんところで、
とりのうたをきく。
あさ、わかる。

HeN ToKoRo De,
ToRi No UTa (w)O KiKu.
ASa, WaKaRu.

In a strange place,
I hear a bird's song.
I know it's morning.

Yeah, it needs a little work, but I can only do so much with my limited Japanese and the restrictions of a 5-7-5 syllable pattern!

In the early morning, students regularly sleep on trains.

The train ride was uneventful, although it was packed with sleeping students. My first obstacle was to actually find my bus stop, since I was using a discount Sun Marine Liner bus that doesn't go to the typical bus station. Although I'd seen a map of where the pick-up point was, I couldn't find any defining markers. I wandered around for about half an hour before finally asking a city bus driver, who had no idea what I was talking about. I went to the bus station, but although they knew where it was, I couldn't really follow their directions very well. Finally, I asked a nice storekeeper near where I thought the bus stop should be, but she tried to direct me back to the bus station. I stumbled through trying to explain in Japanese that I'd been told to come to the spot where I was searching, 「あの。。。　みやこにできないいっていました。　ここにぐらい、あの。。。ごめんあさい。。。」　and eventually we ran into her friend who was opening up shop next door who directed me to an unmarked spot on the street that was apparently where the bus was supposed to stop.

Eventually, after standing there alone for a while feeling not only like an idiot but also doubtful that I was actually in the right place, another guy came by who looked nearly as lost as I felt. I asked him if he was looking for the Sun Marine Liner bus, and he was like, 「はい。　でも、はじめてから。。。」　It was a first time for us both! It did turn out that we were in the right place, though, so when the bus finally came, we were relieved.

Fukuoka is nearly a 4-hour bus ride (including one other pick-up point and two rest-stops) across farmland and through mountains. (HUGE tunnels) I read, napped, woke up, read some more, and was happy to stretch my legs when we stopped every now and then.

Fukuoka - Near Hakata Station

After the bus ride, I wound up in the Hakata area, which is kind of a port town. Hakata and Fukuoka used to be two cities, a port town and a castle town, but have kind of merged, from what I understand. The first thing I did was get promptly lost, as expected. I wanted to find an information booth where I could find out where the cool, hip places to check out in Fukuoka were, but instead ended up wandering around aimlessly in the complex labyrinth that makes up the combination of bus, train, subway and shinkansen (bullet train) stations, that are also connected to a myriad of underground shopping centers, which lead into tall department store buildings.

After a quick lunch, (Mm... teriyaki Mos Burger) and some unintentional browsing, I made my way back to the station I originally started at, about an hour and a half after I left it. I'd also managed to find a post office, so I could withdraw some money as well. (Post offices are good places to make international withdrawals in Japan... when they're open) When I finally found the information desk, the lady I spoke with was immensely helpful, and buried me in maps and brochures for places I could check out. Although she didn't speak much English, we were able to get by with my Japanese and lots of gesturing, and she also graciously provided me with English copies of pamphlets. The places she'd recommended were mostly famous shopping centers, but I wasn't too interested in those since I hadn't planned on spending loads of money. She did, however, mention Dazaifu, which is an ancient city that high-ranking courtiers were sometimes exiled to. I was hesitant at first since getting there was a little confusing, but she gave me another map that very clearly outlined all of the subways lines and transfers I would need to make to get there.

Here's a random pictures of some interesting ice cream flavors in Dazaifu that I wasn't brave enough to try. Um, seriously? わさび(Horseradish)-flavored ice cream!? Jill thinks the tofu looks pretty odd, too.

As a sort of aside, an elderly (Australian, I think?) couple heard me say "awesome" when I was receiving information, and seemed surprised and relieved that I knew both English and at least some Japanese. They asked me to help them, since the information lady helping them was having some trouble communicating. I explained that it was my first time to Fukuoka, but would try my best to help. I kept stupidly answering them in Japanese when they would ask me questions, but would catch myself mid-sentence. ("Oh, you know English!" "あの。。。はい、　er... yes!"　"And you understand Japanese, too?" ”すこしい。。。　uh, I mean, a little...") From what I could tell, the hotel they said they wanted to go to was on the other side of Hakata, according to the information lady, but they insisted that their hotel was much closer than that, since they had walked to the station before. I tried asking them if maybe they'd gotten off at a wrong stop, but they were really really frustrated and didn't remember which stop they'd gotten off at previously. Since I personally had no idea where their hotel was or how to get there, I couldn't really help them that much, but it seemed pretty clear that the name they were saying matched the name that the lady was indicating on the map, which was a dot quite a ways away from the station. The information lady offered to call them a cab, but I never found out what they decided to do. (The wife went away to use the restroom, and the husband decided to call the hotel, after thanking me for trying to help) I hope they got back okay!

Dazaifu - Main Street

After a 45-minute multi-subway trip, and a ten-minute stop in Tenjin (a fashion and culture district in Fukuoka) to e-mail Jill and let her know I'd made it okay, I made it to Dazaifu. I'd tried calling Jill's cell with the pay phones earlier in the day, but hadn't had any luck. I was able to find the information spot right away, and got a map of the area. Since I had to make it back to the bus stop in Hakata by 6:00, I decided that I'd just visit the Tenmangu Shrine to the god of Learning and the Kyushu National Museum in Dazaifu, with some time set aside for omiyage (gift souvenirs) shopping on the main street, too.

This guy, some kind of dragon-unicorn thing, guards the grounds around Tenmangu and its many mini-shrines. There's also some bronze bulls, deer, and other Chinese Lionesque statues as well.

As I should have expected at a shrine to a god of learning, there were tons and tons of students there. They were all on class trips, ranging from elementary school to high school. (College students' classes have ended for the semester, but I don't doubt that there were some there on holiday as well) There were also, of course, lots of foreign visitors as well, but it was interesting to see so many different kinds of uniforms all in one place!

A swarm of middle school students crossing the bridge to Tenmangu Shrine.

The shrine itself was neat, but not terribly unlike the Heian Shrine Jill and I had visited with Charlie in Kyoto once I got inside. The biggest difference was that this one was a lot busier, so I spent more time outside of the shrine looking at the plum blossoms which haven't really come to full bloom yet.

Baby Plum Blossoms

I got really excited when I found out that there's a tree somewhere on the grounds called Tobiume, which is apparently a famous, legendary plum tree. I realize it's kind of odd, but I'd named my car Tobiume before coming to Japan, thinking it meant "flying plum." (My car is actually black, so the name makes even less sense than it should) I never realized that there was an actual tree with this name, though! I'd stolen / borrowed the name from the anime character Hinamori Momo's (Bleach) sword, which fires pretty energy bursts. Unfortunately, I was pressed for time, and never found the famous tree, but hope to return to Dazaifu someday to find it!

Some bad fortunes tied up in preparation to be burned at a later date

I tried to visit the Kyushu National Museum as well, since it was like, two minutes from the shrine, but upon arrival I found out that they were closed. Normally they are only closed on Mondays, but since Monday was a holiday, they'd stayed open. However, if they stay open on a Monday, they close on the next day instead, which, unfortunately, was the Tuesday I decided to come to Fukuoka. Ah, well. One more thing to do the next time I come back and visit!

Some kind of ritual was going on at the shrine, but I didn't stick around to see what was going on. You can kind of see a mirror on the right-ish side of this picture. I think it may be national relic, since these kinds of mirrors are part of the Imperial Regalia.

Before heading back to Tenjin to catch the subway back to Hakata, I did some quick omiyage shopping since gifts were going to be kind of expected as I'd traveled. I also tried some umegae-mochi, which are these sort of lightly-grilled rice cakes filled with a delicious red bean paste. Although they have "ume" (Japanese apricot or plum) in the name, they don't actually contain any fruit. They're called umegae because when the woman who originally made them for the later deified Sugawara no Michizane, (the god of this shrine) she presented them with a twig from one of the plum trees on the dish. I picked up some to take back to Miyazaki to share with Jill and our friends as well!

Umegae-Mochi - That's my gloved hand! (It was cold, so the warm, sweet treat was welcome!) I haven't gotten in the Japanese habit of photographing food before its eaten yet, so as you can see, taking this picture was kind of an afterthought. Or, maybe, I was trying to show you what the inside of these things was like! Yeah, we'll go with that. These things are also said to have curative powers, and stave off disease! No joke!

Omiyage shopping also took me a little longer than planned, now that I think back about it. Usually when Jill and I visit places in Japan, it's easy to find omiyage that are obviously from the place we're visiting. This time though, every omiyage store I went to seemed to have omiyage from everywhere I've already been in Kyushu! (Little mango, hyuganatsu and chicken things from Miyazaki, shinto priests, priestesses, and kagura dolls from Takachiho, and little black boars, radishes, and Saigo Takamoris from Kagoshima, and much more that I couldn't identify!) Jill later explained that she thought the reason for this was that Fukuoka is essentially the first stop for people coming to Kyushu from Honshu, the main island of Japan. It's also usually the last stop for people who have been visiting Kyushu who are going back to Honshu. (by land, usually shinkansen, anyway) So, Fukuoka has omiyage from all over Kyushu just in case someone missed something along the way, I guessed.

For some reason there's this random Dazaifu children's theme park with small-world-esque music about two minutes away from the shrine, also. It, like the museum, was also closed today.

Unfortunately, what his meant for me was that it wasn't easy to identify what exactly the "famous" omiyage was, so I asked some elementary school kids, (with their cute little mandatory $600 backpacks) if they knew: 「すみません、　あの。。。　何がいちばん、ゆめいおみやげですか？」　(SuMiMaSeN, ANo... NaNi Ga IChiBan YuMei OmiYaGeDeSuKa? - Excuse me, um... what's the most famous souvenir?) The boy I asked said he had no idea, but wisely suggested that I ask the clerk instead, who directed me to the place where I would end up buying the umeage-mochi rice cakes. She also showed me some uso (bullfinch) mini totem-pole like things that are famous in Dazaifu, but were way too expensive for me to consider picking one up for each of our friends in Miyazaki. (Something like, $30 each! They are, however, supposed to turn bad luck into good luck...)

I regret that I didn't take any pictures of those kids, who were really friendly, but for some reason taking pictures of little kids feels kinda creepy. Instead, here's a nice garden slightly off of the Dazaifu main street.

Sadly, my dawdling and poor sense of direction had really limited the time I could spend in Fukuoka. I had hoped to explore Tenjin a bit, since it's a fairly famous fashion district in Fukuoka, but since I got lost (again!) once I got off of the train from Dazaifu, I was really pressed for time once I reoriented myself since my bus back to Miyazaki would be leaving soon.

I asked these bronze kappa monsters in a fountain in yet another underground shopping center (this time beneath Tenjin, not Hakata) if they could tell me how to get back home. Needless to say, they didn't reply. (At least not in a language I could understand)

So, yeah. It was a long day, and I'm super tired. I wish I'd been able to visit all of the places I'd hoped to, like the Hakata Canal City, the Robot Museum, (touch and talk to real-life robots, seriously! Awesome!) and the Zoology and Botany center, but Jill and I plan to go back maybe next week on a three-day tour of the Fukuoka and Nagasaki areas. (This was kind of like a scouting trip, in a sense)

Oh! I want to mention Japanese rest stops. Um, they're awesome. I caught the bus back at 6:00, (which was vital, since it was the only one available for the price I'd pre-paid) and arrived in Minami (South) Miyazaki around 10:00. This is one of the rest stops we stopped at in between:

Wow! A Rest Stop!

Japanese rest stops aren't the practically port-o-potty / Honey Buckets where there's sometimes free coffee I'm used to in the states. No, these rest stops have full-service restaurants (open late) gift shops, (open late) and of course, bath rooms (open always.) This one even had a pretty rainbow light dome on top! Oooh.

Also, because I couldn't show him earlier, here's a popular bronze bull in front of Tenmangu. It was really hard to get this picture, because people kept wanting to take pictures with the bull. I would've taken one with him, too, but I was too shy to ask someone to take a picture of me for me, and trying to do it myself, well... those pictures kept turning out really MySpacey, and were either too close, really blurry, caused a strange expression on my face, or a horrible combination of the three. End Long Caption Here.

Aaaand scene! Thus concludes probably my most haphazard blog post yet. Whoosh! Although it's been a really long day, (woke up 5:30, bussed from 7:55 to noon, took trains from about 1:30 to 2:15, then again from 4:00 to 4:45, then bussed again from 6:00 to 10:00) Jillian was a total sweetheart and unexpectedly met me at Kibana-Eki when I got off of the train from Minami Miyazaki. (This means that she walked about a mile, in the cold and dark, uphill, both ways, barefoot, you get the pictures) I was kind of dreading the walk home alone, so it was a really nice surprise! I'd picked up some goodies along the way too, (aside from omiyage and snacks) so I had more than just stories to share, although there were plenty of those. (Essentially, these) and we murmured a bit about politics, too. (boo)

Alrighties, even though I napped on the train and ate sugary foods way too late at night, I'm sleepy now. Thanks for keeping up, if you are, and I promise I'll eventually get to that stuff I said I'd write about before at some point in the future probably. kthxbaiyay :)

PS - For my own notes: later I should write about - JDramas, friendship (less than three) gardens in Miyazaki...

Japanese Classes at Miyadai - Also, some art!

2008-02-09T20:46:00.000-08:00

Classes are officially over for the semester here at Miyazaki University, but I was thankfully able to attend a few during my time here. 宮崎大学,　（みやざきだいがく、MiYaZaKiDaIGaKu, or "Miyadaki" for short,) is a fairly smallish university, (About the same size as Evergreen, so around 4,000 students, I think?) and is probably most famous for its veterinary, engineering, and agricultural departments.

For no real reason, here's a picture of some Banana Pastries - Here in Japan, they like to eliminate doubt by labeling their foods in an obvious fashion.

Jill's Japanese classes are fairly small, so her teachers said that it was okay if I sat in on a few classes. Tanaka-Sensei's class, probably comparable to First-Year Japanese at Evergreen, was mostly grammar review for me, but there was a lot of new vocabulary, too. It's also a completely different experience from first-year Japanese in Olympia because the entire class is taught in Japanese! Tanaka-Sensei not only allowed me to participate in the class, but also assigned some written homework as well.

Mitsuishi-Sensei, who is a bit younger than Tanaka-Sensei, (both are probably in their mid to late twenties, though) teachers the slightly harder Japanese class, although it is still considered elementary Japanese. I would compare it to Second-Year Japanese at Evergreen, (which I was taking last quarter) so the grammar and things were still pretty new. Tanaka-Sensei also expected my participation if I was to "sit in" on the class, and although I was able to answer some questions correctly, it was still pretty tough!

On my first visit to Miyazaki, before the airport debacle, I had a chance to practice calligraphy in Mitsuishi-Sensei's class with some visiting art teachers. We were told that our art was going to be shown in an art show in downtown Miyazaki, but since the date was after I was returning to Osaka, I didn't expect to ever see it. Luckily, though, I'm still here, and yesterday Jill and I went to Carino Miyazaki, a tall building with a Tsutaya Book Store, salon, and some DELL offices, as well as an international center where our art was featured.

Our Calligraphy display in Carino みやざき。

Our assignment was to draw "something you love," but to incorporate it into the kanji used to represent it. Can you guess which one is Jillian's and which one is mine?

The Artists' names: Jill and I are pretty easy to find on the list

So, before I reveal which ones are ours, (if you haven't already figured it out) I should note that both Jillian and I have actually done calligraphy before. Jill had practiced with some exchange students as a semi-extracurricular study two years ago, and is much, much better at calligraphy than I am. I learned calligraphy for the first time last quarter with Tsutsumi-Sensei and her assistant Hisako, an international student at Evergreen, but my writing style tends to "lack confidence" and looks "a little unsure." Calligraphy is part talent, part technique, and part soul, I think. The trained eye can tell a lot about a person from their, er... brush-person-ship, if that makes any sense.

Artists revealed! The picture was laminated, so it was difficult to photograph.

As you can see, mine is a little sloppy, but it was still a lot of fun! Jillian had trouble settling on just one thing that she loved, so she did a bunch of kanji and pictures on her piece.

Jill's work of art: As you can see, she loves a lot of things.

The kanji that Jill chose for her piece are: 木、（き、Ki - trees）花、（はな、HaNa - flowers）海、（うみ、UMi - the ocean）鳥、（とり、ToRi - birds）　日、（ひ、Hi - the sun）　and 空、（そら、SoRa - the sky.） Clearly, her studious interests have shown through here, since she's an ornithologist who is also studying environmental science! (Jill also has strong interests in Odissi Dance, Opera, Japanese language and culture, and now computer programming and game development!)

Here's mine... it's kind of silly, but I chose 亀。

亀、（かめ、KaMe - turtle) is one of the few kanji I know how to write, but unfortunately, not very well. I had a pet turtle as a child, and sleep with a stuffed turtle at night. Er, I mean, I use her as a pillow. Um, I mean, it. I use IT as a pillow. Oh, who am I kidding? So, I sleep with a turtle instead of a teddy bear. So what!? When Jill is around, though, she tends to steal Lily (That's the turtle's name) who is the perfect size for us to wrap our arms around. I had a really hard time picking a kanji to write, even though we had lots of newspaper to practice on before the fact. I'd played around with 日本語、（にほんご, NiHoNGo - Japanese）　日, （にち, NiChi - Sunday, also Sun) 月, （げつ, GeTsu - Monday, also Moon）火, （か, Ka - Tuesday, also Fire）水, （すい, SuI - Wednesday, also Water）木, （もく, MoKu - Thursdsay, also Wood or Tree）金, （きん, KiN - Friday, or Gold）and 土（ど, Do - I don't know what else "Do" means）　花（はな、HaNa - Flower） but had lots of reasons to not use those, and was told that the turtle idea was the cutest and most unique. (Nihongo was too hokey, the days of the week was a little weird, and each also needs 曜日（ようび、YoUBi - Day) at the end to actually make them a day, and Jill has already done Flower.

This is kind of random, but I figured this out two summers ago when taking Japanese Immersion as a summer class at Evergreen. I'd taken Spanish in middle school, and remembered that the days of the week were (starting from Monday) Lunes, Martes, Miércoles, Jueves, Viernes, Sábado and Domingo. These days of the week can be related to things in the solar system, like this: (in order) Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus and... I'm not sure what to do with Saturday, but Domingo or Sunday goes with the Sun.

So, this is where the geek in me comes out. In the Anime Sailor Moon, each Sailor Scout has a planet name and special power. Sailor Mars, for example, uses fire attacks. Mars ~ Martes ~ Tuesday ~　火曜日　～　fire! The same works for Sailor Mercury: Mercury ~ Miercoles ~ Wednesday ~ 水曜日　~ water! I was really excited to piece this together, since it was the only like I could think of between Japanese, English and Spanish, but when I told my friend Allison about it, who is also studying Japanese, she'd pretty much already known about it. (Allison will be coming to Japan to study in Kobe for a year starting the beginning of April) I still thought it was pretty cool, though!

Anyway, that was sort of a weird aside. I think my favorite piece of art, (although there were tons of other cool ones, including piece done by people living in Miyazaki from New Zealand, the U.S., Korea, Bolivia, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, England, and probably more!) was this map of the world:

An awesome Map of the World

This piece, made by a Korean student, was done with stamps from all around the world. I thought it was really cool that they used stamps from the states to make the landmass of the states, for example. (Although they kind of put stamps from individuals states like, wherever - like North Carolina was on the West Coast) Some of the stamps were improvised, like a Japanese stamp depicting Russia being used as part of the Russia landmass, but it was still really cool. There was also a nice message about how stamps help us communicate around the world, and how letters will never be outdone by e-mail. :)

One last random note about yesterday, (since that's when we went downtown and actually kind of stumbled across our art exhibit) I did something I never imagined I'd find myself doing. I had to convince my girlfriend not to buy a video game.

Jill has been toying with the idea of buying a Nintendo Wii in Japan for a few weeks now. They're slightly cheaper here than they are in the states, (because of the exchange rate) and there's a few games you can get here that you can't get yet in the states. Most notably is the game Super Smash Bros. Brawl, (or Super Smash Brothers X, in Japan) which is released here, but won't be out in the states until March.

I should take a moment to mention that Smash Bros isn't just any game. This game is EPIC! Like, seriously! Nintendo is putting a ton of stuff into this game, including mini-versions of the original games from the 80's that the characters in the game came from, pictures, stickers, stage-creation, and online play. Smash Bros is essentially the game lots of kids thought up when they were little: What would happen if your favorite Nintendo star was put up against your other favorite Nintendo star? Characters include Yoshi, Kirby, Princess Peach, Donkey Kong, Link (from the Legend of Zelda series) Princess Zelda herself, the Ice Climbers, Pit (from Kid Icarus, a game older than I am) Pikachu (as well as a multitude of other Pokemon) and of course, Mario. There's more characters too, some hidden and unlockable, but most notably are guest appearances by Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog and Solid Snake from the special ops recon (or something) game Metal Gear: Solid. The game can be played competitively or cooperatively, and is just... well, amazing. (Even the sountrack is awesome!)

One negative thing about getting the Wii here is that Nintendo Wiis are region-coded, which means that if you buy games here, you can't play them on an American Wii. The same goes for buying a Japanese Wii and trying to play games purchased in the states with it. This was definitely not my biggest point, though. I was mostly worried that the Wii, like so many other things we already have around us, would be a huge, huge distraction.

Although Jill and I do make time to study, travel, and get the most of Japan that we can, there's plenty around to distract us. At the very least, we have each other, Shiva, other American students, and day-to-day chores that keep us from studying as much as we should. Throw in the unessentials we have like American television via Jill's family's slingbox, Pokemon Cards, non-academic books, the various lures of the internet and Nintendo DS games, (not the Kanji practice one) well... a new game system is really the last thing we need.

There's also the matter of space, having to rearrange the room, get a TV in here, the number of other games Jill would want to buy, the extra controllers and other accessories she'd need to play the games she bought... Jill really likes to rearrange her room, though, and shipping it back wouldn't be too hard, because Wiis are relatively small, but...

In any case, I convinced her not to buy it, and was relieved. I'm normally not one to stifle run, especially of the video game variety, but this is a special opportunity for us both, and I'd hate for us to spend out time inside playing video games when that's definitely something we could just do at home. While I do admit that we might be able to learn something by trying to play these games in Japanese, it would really be more of a novelty than actually educational, I think. Jill may decide to pick one up later, but for the meantime, we are Wii free. (We'll definitely have this conversation again when we're both back home in the states, though!)

Um... I think that's all for now. I will get to the Kaeda Gorge pseudo-visit and friendship among guys reflection eventually. Next week I'll maybe be visiting northern Kyushu, but we'll just have to wait and see, I think. The prospect of traveling alone is scary! Bye bye for now.

Edit: I think I may have forgotten to write how pleased and grateful I was for the opportunity to participate in these classes. They were not only super-educational, but also really fun! It warmed my heart to see my name up with the names of the other foreign students at Miyadai, despite only being a visitor!

Time Skip: Kagoshima Day Trip

2008-02-04T17:51:00.000-08:00

So, I know I'm skipping ahead a few weeks here, but I'd like to write about our trip on Sunday while it's still fairly fresh in my mind.

Kagoshima City, near Kagoshima Chuo Eki

Sunday morning Jillian and I made a day-trip to Kagoshima, about a two-hour bus ride south of Miyazaki. We woke up before dawn in order to catch the 6:50 train, and after a quick breakfast of bagel sandwiches, we caught the 7:50 express bus from Miyako City Station to Kagoshima Chuo Eki.

The bus we rode was pretty luxurious. There were three rows of seats, with aisles in between, and each seat was kind of like an airplane seat, minus the tray-table. (They did have footrests and little pockets for headphones and sick-bags, though) The bus ride even featured a movie, which was a touching story about a genius pianist who is crippled by a gunshot wound to the hand during a mugging, so he teaches a young disabled girl how to play. (Or something like that)

Upon arrival, it took us a little while to get our bearings, since neither Jill or I had been to Kagoshima before. With the help of the traveler's information center, we purchased a 600 yen bus pass that we could use on the city view tour buses all day, and also got a discount to all of Kagoshima's sight-seeing attractions.

Statue near the bus and train station commemorating the group of Satsuma-Clan students smuggled into the Europe to learn about Western culture and technology during the Tokugawa Isolation Edict in the mid-late nineteenth century.

Our first stop was the Meiji Restoration Museum, which Tsutsumi-Sensei, my Japanese Culture professor from last quarter, recommended I go see. The ladies in the museum all wore really interesting uniforms.

Museum Ladies

The Meiji Restoration Museum focuses mostly on Saigo Takamori, hero of the Satsuma Clan. (Kagoshima was actually called Satsuma a long time ago) The city has large bronze statues of many Satsuma clan members throughout, who all played vital roles in returning power to the imperial family at the end of the Edo Period from the Tokugawa Shogunate.

Saigo Takamori, Hero of the Meiji Restoration, some goof ball, and Okubo Toshimichi, who brought many forms of advanced technology back to Japan from Europe and North America.

One of the neatest things about the Meiji Restoration Museum is that it's a really interactive experience. Not only are there guided tours as one would typically expect, but in addition to the various exhibits and artifacts, they also have period replicas of clothing from the Meiji era that you can try on!

Jillian sporting a replica of Saigo Takamori's jacket. (That's a model of Saigo's dog to her right)

The museum even had a Satsuma Clan video game for children to play, and models and examples of technology that Toshimichi-san brought back from the west that you could touch and operate. (They have, of course, been modified for safety) The museum's biggest attraction is the Meiji ドラマ (DoRaMa, or Drama). Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures of this particular attraction, but essentially it was a spectacle of light and sound, including a movie, animatronic historical figures, (including Takamori-san and Toshimichi-san, of course) and lightning, snow, and fire light effects. Jillian and I were provided with headphones for an English translation, although we were able to catch the gist of the Japanese even without them.

Satsuma Clan Video Game

Another cool exhibit featured tiny holographic images of people reenacting scenes from the end of the Edo period. (Shortly after Commodore Perry and his black ships arrived demanding that Japan open its ports for trade)

Tiny, ghostly holo-people.

To me, this particular museum is a really good example of Japan's tendency to copy things that other countries have done, but then implement them in a different way. (Japan has been doing this for centuries, starting with many forms of art, architecture and lifestyle from China., including their writing system.) By this I don't just mean the models of western technology and dress featured in the museum that Japan began to mimic from the west, but the museum itself.

Model of a Japanese ship developed from a Western design.

For example, the animatronic people in the Meiji Drama were not only technologically impressive, but we also being used for a genuinely interesting history lesson of sorts. Compared to the relatively boring Hall of Presidents animatrons in Disney World, these guys were pretty stellar. (Although still the awkward kind of jerky you expect from animatrons) Also, I'm fairly certain that the tiny holo-people in the reenactment exhibits were generated by similiar if not the same technology as the ghosts in Disney Land's Haunted Mansion. Again, these Japanese characters are being used for not solely entertainment, but education as well. One might even say that Japan not only mimicked the technology in a different way, but possibly even in a better way.

After the museum visit, Jill and I were pretty hungry, so we stopped at a ramen place near a park in the center of town for lunch. A nice lady from Hong Kong spoke English with us for a bit, and we were genuinely grateful for the chance to rest for a bit. Conveniently, the Saigo Takamori Statue was nearby, which I definitely had to take a picture of to send back to Tsutsumi-Sensei's class in Olympia. (Tsutsumi-Sensei had requested that I take some photos in Kagoshima since they're learning about the Meiji Restoration right now)

Bronze Statue in of Takamori Saigo, tragic, compassionate Hero.

Our next stop was "the cave where Saigo hid," (or so it was called on our map) which is the place where Saigo Takamori took his last stand at the end of the Satsuma Rebellion.

"The Cave where Saigo hid"

I won't give a full account of Saigo's story here, but essentially he was a prominent figure of the Satsuma clan who taught his pupils with the rules "Never lose, never lie, never bully." Young samurai were trained by other young samurai, since they had no school or formal teachers. The Meiji Restoration was a time of turmoil in Japan, since the Tokugawa government was being overthrown by people trying to return power to the Emperor of Japan. ("Restoration" in Japanese history refers to times where power that has been taken from the Imperial family is being restored) The Satsuma clan was on the side of the war that was fighting in favor of the imperial family, who were up against the Tokugawa Shogunate, who had been in power for over two centuries. Saigo was a compassionate man, even in victory, and although he had been exiled multiple times in his life for fear of his leading a rebellion, he allowed his enemies to live, saying that too much blood had already been spilled.

The sign outside of the cave. "My life is in your hands" refers to Saigo's reaction to his students' actions that led to the beginning of the last Satsuma Rebellion.

Later in his life, after Saigo has basically retired from the leadership scene, he was leading a school in Kagoshima for those without the means to travel to the best schools in the capital. (Or something like that) However, since the government was worried about Saigo raising another rebellion, they started to move all arms and munition formerly stored in Kagoshima to Kyoto, where they could keep an eye on it. Saigo's students, offended by this lack of trust in their mentor, attacked one of the munitions depots, which marked the beginning of the Seinan (?) Civil War, or the last Satsuma Rebellion. Unfortunately for Saigo, who didn't understand the actions of his students, his forces were outnumbered two-to-one, and had inferior weaponry as well. Despite all he had done for the restoration of the imperial family, the government ultimately destroyed Saigo, and he it still revered as a Hero even today.

Or... at least I think that's how it went. Okubo has his own story too, and he is nearly as popular since he was a close friend of Saigo's before they went different ways regarding the modernization of Japan.

After the cave, (which was a really quick visit, like, four minutes before the bus arrived again) we went to the Saigo Nanshu Cemetery, where the samurai who died during the Seinan Civil War are buried, including Saigo. (There is also another museum there, but we didn't have time to visit it as well.

Saigo Nanshu Cemtery, some of the samurai who are buried here were as young as fourteen.

The cemetery is on a large hill overlooking the Kagoshima bay, and you can clearly see the Sakurajima volcano from a little terrace near the gate. There is also a shrine near the cemetery, but we didn't purchase omikuji (fortunes) this time. It's a really inspiring place, and gave me a feeling of awe kind of similar to the way I felt at the Ama no Iwato cave-shrine in Takachiho, although this feeling was more of an appreciation of historical importance rather than an awe for the natural beauty at the cave.

The Tomb of Saigo Takamori

Our final stop was the Kagoshima City Aquarium, which was pretty much the most awesome aquarium I've ever been to. While the Seattle Aquarium will always hold a familiar place in my heart, this place was just really, really cool.

Kagoshima City Aquarium

Not only where the sea creatures we saw here new and exciting, but they aquarium also had a really conservation-y message. Every intro to each area reminded visitors that the environment that these creatures live in is shrinking each day, and that even the rich sea life near the geothermic vents of Sakurajima is at risk.

I'll warn you now that my pictures in the aquarium are a bit lacking, since my camera doesn't photograph moving things very well. Jillian's blog, however, has some better pictures, as well as a picture of a really moving poem at the end of the aquarium tour. (Jill's blog also has pictures of the baby sea turtles, which were my favorite. I took a picture of them too, but hers is infinitely better than mine.)

A big, scary Grouper

Aside from the huge variety of sea life, including, but not limited to, cuttlefish, octopi, tube worms, jellyfish, sea otters, whale sharks, and crabs, part of what made the aquarium so fun was the visitors. There were a ton of kids there, and they were all super excited to be there, too! It was really heartwarming to see all of the children so happy to see all of the seahorses and snails, and a particularly adorable moment happened when we saw this guy:

Oh my, it's a Clown Fish!

This group of little kids were chanting "Nemo, Nemo!" as their parents looked on. I haven't actually seen Finding Nemo before, but I hear it's really good. I'd always liked clown fish as a child because I thought it was really cool how they could live among sea anemones that would normally sting other fish.

Speaking of stinging, this guy is apparently pretty dangerous.

The aquarium, like the museum, also had many interactive stations, like the touch-tank, where kids could touch sea-stars and things, computer games, and a sea lab where a scientist was showing things like jellyfish polyps and shark egg sacs. In particular at the sea lab, I thought this was pretty funny:

I don't see the scientific significance of this, but this fella was in the sea lab anyway.

I keep referring to all of these creatures as "guys" and "fellas," but I honestly have no idea whether they're male or female. Interestingly, I took more pictures in the museum, while Jill took more pictures in the aquarium. I bet you can guess what our academic foci are!

There was also a dolphin show, but we couldn't stick around to see it.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit all of the museums in Kagoshima, although the Marchen Fairy Tale museum looked really cool. We also had the skip the art museum, and didn't get to take the ferry to Sakurajima either. Sakurajima is an island-like volcano in Kagoshima bay. It's really, really big, and still active! In Kagoshima, they actually have drills to train people what to do in the event of an eruption, similar to fire or earthquake drills in schools. Sakurajima also has a "magma onsen," that has water heated by the volcano itself!

Sakurajima Volcano, as seen from the Aquarium.

We took the express bus back to Miyazaki and had a food court dinner at Miyako city. (Chinese food for Jill, Okonomiyaki again for me.) After a long, long day, we took the train back to Kibana and finally came home to Shiva. (who was pretty pissed, but seemed to have missed us) Lucky for us, Jillian's friend Erina had fed Shiva while we were gone because she heard him meowing, so he was okay.

Overall, it was an amazing day trip! I'd be more than happy to visit Kagoshima again some day, and was glad to be able to help Tsutsumi-Sensei's class out by getting some visual references to help their study. Next week I'm hoping to travel around other parts of Kyushu, and if things work out, I might be going all on my own. I'm nervous, but also excited!

And... yeah! That's all I have to say about Kagoshima for now! Until next time!

Creative Break: A Day in the Life

2008-02-02T01:11:00.000-08:00

This story is dedicated to Shiva, Jillian's Cat, and Kate Crowe, a faculty member at Evergreen, who loathes stories about peoples' pets.

Shiva and Pingu, or シバ　と　ピング

It's four in the morning. For kittens, this means it's time to wake up.

"Mom! MOM! I want to go out now! MOM!" Shiva, a gray, wire-haired tabby, meows. For emphasis, he adds in a good couple of scratches to the wallpaper near the door of the tiny dorm room.

Jillian, the "Mom" that Shiva is whining to, is fast asleep. Because she sleeps like a log, (and hogs the sheets,) she will not be roused from her peaceful slumber at this time.

Anthony, however, Jillian's significant other, is subject to Shiva's cries. Shivering, (due to lack of sheets) Anthony sleepily rolls out of bed, having no idea what time it is, and rubs his eyes.

"シバチャン。。。なんだ？”　he asks, knowing full well what Shiva wants. Regardless, he attends to other things that one usually does upon waking up, then fills Shiva's dry food and water bowls.

"Listen, punk, I want to go out, I don't want... oh, that food actually looks pretty tasty." Shiva, fickle as a cat, (hehe) decides that eating is actually preferable to going out, and begins to feast on his fish-shaped bits of other kinds of meat.

Anthony, meanwhile, performs a few other daily chores. He cleans out the litter-box, straightens up the room a bit after hurricane Shiva's nightly destruction, then washes up a bit and brushes his teeth before crawling back into bed by the sound of Shiva's ferocious munching of those little fish-shaped morsels.

"何時ですか？”　Jillian asks Anthony as he wraps his chilly arms around her warm, pajama-clad body. "Uh... I don't really know," he replies,　"どして？”　But Jillian never hears him, because she's already fallen back asleep.

As Anthony finally begins to doze off again, probably somewhere around 5:30, Shiva decides that it's time to play again - with Anthony's hair. Because Anthony's hair is fairly long, Shiva considers it fair game for all kinds of scratching, biting, and chewing fun. In a vain attempt to deter Shiva from ingesting unhealthy amounts of TRESemmé, Anthony unceremoniously tosses Shiva further down the bed, only to have the kitten return with an angry vengeance. Now he wants blood.

"シバ、だめ！いたい！”　Anthony pleads as he fights for his life. He retreats beneath the covers, but Shiva, unrelenting, finds a vulnerable foot which he attempts to devour. "Nice try, but you won't get rid of me that easily!"

When Anthony desperately curls into the fetal position in a last-ditch effort to stave the mad kitten off, he accidentally bumps Jillian in the rear with his knee, waking her. "ああ！ごめんね。。。　シバ。。。”　Jillian, understanding instantly, grabs the cat, sets him down off the side of the bed, and goes back to sleep.

Anthony, blinking in confusion, watches as Shiva apparently accepts this action as the decisive "playtime is over" maneuver. The now-calmed kitten wanders under the kotatsu, (a kind of low-table with a small heater underneath that has a blanket attached that drapes over the edges) and goes to sleep as well.

Despite how tired he feels, Anthony is now fully awake. Carefully and delicately, so as not to wake Jillian again, (although nothing short of another knee-in-the-rear is likely to wake her) he quite literally tip-toes between Jillian's limbs in their typical sleeping-sprawl and boots up Jillian's laptop.

Seizing the moment as a rare opportunity when Jillian and Shiva are both asleep, Anthony begins working on his blog. He sits cross-legged under the warm blankets of the kotatsu, and sets about writing long, overly detailed posts peppered with blurry, poorly-lit pictures he'd taken during his trip to Japan. Eventually, his knees and legs cramp up, so he stretches them out underneath the kotatsu, but in the process accidentally bumps and awakens the beast once again.

"Okay, now you've gone and done it..." Shiva grumbles, stretching out as well complete with a big, kitty yawn. He looks around, gathers his bearings, then promptly attacks Anthony's legs.

"Ow, geez! Shiva! だめ　だめ　だめ。。。”　Again, Anthony is fighting for his life, trying foolishly to grab the cat who has latched himself pretty firmly onto Anthony's ankle. Jillian, awakened by the simultaneous sounds of her alarm clock going off and Anthony slamming his knee into the bottom of the kotatsu, rises slowly and bleary-eyed. Shiva, also startled by the beeping of the alarm clock, darts out from beneath the kotatsu, and looks up at Jillian expectantly.

"なぜ　おきた？”　Jillian asks Anthony, who is gently rubbing his knee with a grimace on his face. He looks at Jill, clearly confused. "Huh?" he asks, dumbly. "Why are you awake?" Jill repeats, although this time in English. "Oh, right," Anthony says as he returns his legs to the warmth of the kotatsu, watching Shiva warily as the kitten prowls about the room. "Couldn't sleep... uh, are you hungry?"

"A little," Jill replies, her eyes also on Shiva, who is now batting around a plastic ball with a souvenir pin inside purchased from a vending machine during Jill and Anthony's visit with their friend Charlie in Kobe. "Aw... look at him! Isn't he adorable?"

"Yeah, he's a plain bundle of joy." Anthony answers bitterly as he unfolds himself from beneath the kotatsu. He examines his leg and finds fresh scratch-marks, similar to the ones covering both Jillian and Anthony's hands and arms. "Do you want me to go get some breakfast?"

"I think we've still got some of that choco-bread," says Jill, as she stretches. She replaces Anthony at the spot in front of the laptop, then rubs Shiva behind the ears as she checks her e-mail. Shiva, naturally, begins to purr. He's always an angel right after the fact, of course.

"Oh, yeah. It's right here..." Anthony removes the bag of chocolate-chip bread sticks from the shelf, then examines them more closely. "Hrm..." he scratches his stubbled chin as he forms the sentence in Japanese, "Uh, あの。。。ちょっと。。。”

"何？”　Jill asks, looking up from the laptop. Anthony is frowning. "ちょっと、uh, mold が　ある、um, から。。。　たべられませんよおもいます。”

"Oh, it's moldy, so you don't think we can eat it?" Jill repeats. "Yeah, uh, I think that's what I was going for." Anthony sighs, tying the bag into a knot before tossing it into the combustible trash. "Do we have any of those fruit cups left?"

"Oh, yeah!" exclaims Jill as she opens her mini-fridge. An odd, slightly-fermented smell drifts out as she removes two cups from the multitude of veggies and leftovers packed into the tiny, well-used appliance. "Gah, I wish we knew what that smell was," she sets the cups on the table and looks up at Anthony, who is grabbing spoons.

"Me too. It's pretty... well, gross." He climbs over the bed, which is actually probably a fire-safety hazard, but he and Jill don't worry about it, and plops to Jillian's right on another edge of the kotatsu.

"Do you want mango, or peach?" Jill asks, taking a spoon. "I don't really mind. Well, you like the peach ones, right? So I can take the mango." Jill puts her hand on the mango cup, presumably to hand it to Anthony, but hesitates. "I do kind of eat the peach ones a lot, though, do you mind if I take the mango?" Anthony tilts his head as he stares at Jillian for a beat, then does that sort of exasperated smile-sigh one does when they're mildly frustrated with someone they care about, despite not having a really good reason for being frustrated. "Sure, that's fine."

The two slurp up their fruit cups while Shiva examines the sticky lids, then gets one stuck on his paw. The kitten freaks out, tries to shake the lid off, succeeds, then runs around the room wildly, knocking over a cup full of pencils and a book off the desk in the process. He then jumps onto the table, nearly getting the sticky fruit cup lid stuck on himself again, and finally settles down on Jillian's keyboard.

"シバ、だめ！”　Jillian cries, trying to push him off of the keyboard. "What? It's warm here. Besides, you guys pay more attention to whatever this thing is than you do to me..." Shiva looks up at Jillian, innocently. "Anthony, could you...?" Anthony, spray-bottle already in hand, sneak attacks Shiva from behind, wetting his back with a little squirt of water. Shiva, however, ignores him. Anthony, confused, tries again, but to no avail. Finally, Shiva turns around, probably curious what the all the fuss is about, and is accidentally squirted square on the nose. He shakes his head, jumps off of the laptop, (somehow managing to turn the screen image at a 90 degree angle, change the font type to Japanese input, and open and close several internet browser windows in one fell swoop while the computer beeps multiple times in protest) and springs onto the bed, glaring at that wretched pink water bottle that Anthony seems to adore.

"ごめね、　シバチャン！”　Jillian apologizes to the cat, before noticing the havoc Shiva has inflicted upon her laptop. "Oh, Shiva! What have you... wait, what!? How is this even possible!?"

Anthony, who has set the water bottle away, but is still keeping a close eye on Shiva, turns to Jill, sighing. "What'd he do this time?"

"I don't even... well, look!" Jill turns the laptop to face Anthony, who has to crane his neck to understand what's happened. "He... what? He turned rotated the screen some how?" Anthony scratches his head in confusion. "I know! It's all sideways!" Jill cries, squinting at Shiva with angry eyes. "Cat... how do you even...?"

Shiva, having no idea what the other two are so concerned about, returns to batting around the little plastic ball. "I'm gonna get you, you little ball!" Shiva says to the ball. The ball does not reply, since plastic balls with souvenir pins don't typically have a larynx, at least not to my knowledge. Then again, I guess it's entirely possible that little plastic balls have another method of communication that I'm not aware of. It probably isn't fair to assume otherwise, (You know what they say assuming makes you and me) but in the scheme of things, it probably isn't really all that important.

While Jill fiddles with the computer screen, which is really difficult since the mouse-alignment is also screwed up, Anthony tosses another ball to Shiva before tidying up a bit, making sure to get rid of the sticky lid that started the whole mess.

Jillian, sighing in frustration, gets up from the computer and opens the closet, getting some clothes prepared for the day. "Well, we'll have to worry about it later... we need to get ready for class. Shit! I also need to give Shiva his medicine." Anthony, peeking out from the bathroom, mumbles something incomprehensible due to the toothbrush in his mouth.

"何？”　Jill asks, as she putters about the room looking for socks. Anthony's face appears from around the corner again, now toothbrush free. "Sorry, uh, what time is class?"

Shiva, who has been batting around the little plastic spheres has somehow succeeded in pushing them both under the bed, which doesn't actually seem physically possible, since the space between the bed in relation to the diameter of one of the plastic balls... well, it just doesn't work out.

"Oh, it's at..." Jillian begins to respond, but disappears behind the open door of her dressed as she changes her clothes.

"Jill? You didn't actually finish that sentence out loud... could you grab my jacket while you're in there?" Anthony asks as he digs around in the pile of laundry on the bed for something decent to wear - preferably not the same outfit he wore yesterday, although the clothes from the day before would probably be okay, if he could find them.

"Sorry! Class is at 8:40. We probably need to go soon." Jill says as she closes the closet door. She tosses Anthony his jacket, then straightens her hair. "What time is it now?"

"Um, I don't know. Lemme check." Anthony leans over the bed to check the alarm clock. "Oh, it's like... ８時はん." He climbs back, then looks at Jill, who is getting Shiva's medicine from the refrigerator.

"Wait, it's 8:30? We need to go! I'll give Shiva his medicine really quick, and then feed him." Shiva who has been trying desperately to retrieve the little plastic balls from underneath the bed, meows up at Jill in confusion and defeat. "Mom, Mom! Where are my little balls? I cannot find them!" (This, however, is before Shiva has had his little operation, so this joke isn't quite as funny... yet) Jill, ignoring Shiva's question, since despite her phenomenal animal empathy skills she still doesn't quite understand Cat, scoops up Shiva (No easy task) and takes him to the bathroom, which involves some squeezing past Anthony through a tiny, tiny hall. She applies the medicine, which is done by putting a tiny drop of some yellow substance in each of Shiva's nostrils.

"Well, really it's like, 8:27, but... oh, class is at 8:40! Yeah, we do need to go!" Anthony scrambles about the room gathering pencils and his notebook, as well as Jill's wallet, jacket and bag of school supplies. "Jill, I've got your stuff! I'll meet you outside?" He makes his way to the door, arms full of stuff.

"Honey, could you...?" Jillian begins, still wrestling with Shiva in the bathroom. Anthony waits for a moment for Jill to finish, then after about twenty seconds grows impatient. "何？　Could I...? Could I what, Jill?"

Jill, appearing from the bathroom with Shiva in her arms, squeezes past Anthony again and makes for the fridge. "I was gonna ask you to grab his food, but I realized that I hafta put his medicine away anyway." Jillian explains, replacing Shiva's medicine in the fridge and retrieving a packet of wet food - Shiva's reward for going through the medicine applying process.

"Mom, Mom! I get wet food now, right? Please give me tasty, delicious, wet food!" Shiva meows near his food dish as he paces around, impatient. "Jill, I'm gonna slip out while he's distracted, okay?" Anthony says as he inches towards the door, arms still full of stuff. The food-bait tactic to keep Shiva inside while they're gone is a normal morning routine for Anthony and Jillian, in order to keep Shiva from being discovered by larger, meaner cats.

"Okay, I'll see you out there." says Jill, who is putting Shiva's food in its dish. "Good job, シバチャン. You're getting so good at taking your medicine now! Stay here while we go out, okay?"

"Yeah, don't get into too much trouble while we're gone, cat. We'll be back soon." advises Anthony before exiting quickly who, despite their issues, really does love that cat.

"Man, when they get back, I am gonna bite that guy's ankles so hard..." thinks Shiva as he devours his meal, then climbs up on the bed and promptly falls asleep, as is his post-meal ritual.

Shiva, the Sleepy Kitty

Author's Notes: So, this for me is a nice little break from the usual blog monotony. This is all pretty much based on the usual morning for Jill and I here at Miyazaki, although I've embellished a bit, of course. The 90 degrees rotation thing with the laptop did actually happen, but we managed to fix it. (Thank goodness) After writing this, I realized that I made Jill seem maybe a little difficult to deal with and me seem kind of mean. I'd like to think that we're not actually like that, these are just characters with the same names as us and put in the exact same situation, after all, right? Unfortunately, I'm really not much of a morning person, (Which is why most of my blog posts happen at like, 1:00 in the morning or so) and because of Shiva's antics and cramped sleeping, the word I use to describe how I feel most often is ねむい、or NeMuI, which means "tired."

Please don't think I'm whining, though! Things work out okay, and I manage to fit in little naps here and there. In all seriousness, Jillian is a darling, and I'm happy to be here with her and Shiva. Morning can be a little difficult, but we make it through things okay! We do speak in that odd sort of broken Japanese that is sometimes characteristic of American anime fans, but we also study the language more seriously during the day as well. ("How do you say, 'useful' again? Was it 'yaku ni tarimasu,' or 'yaku ni tachimasu'?" "Uh... I thought it was the latter, but now that you said "tarimasu," I'm not too sure... let's check the dictionary...)

A concern my Grandmother had about Shiva is whether or not he'll respond to Japanese or English commands. I'm pretty sure that the concern is fairly moot, since the only "commands "Shiva really seems to respond to are the spray bottle of the sound his food makes when shaken. If he does have some base understanding of language aside from our tones when we yell at him or whatever, the poor thing is probably thoroughly confused by the varying English and Japanese Jill and I try to speak to each other.

Shiva, unfortunately, has recently been diagnosed with the Feline Leukemia Virus, which is usually fatal within three years. Jillian made a more detailed post about the vet visit here. Because this virus is not only really dangerous for cats, but also highly contagious, we're worried that we may not be able to take Shiva back to the states with us as originally planned. If anyone knows anything about how we could treat him or possibly get him back home with us, we'd be really, really grateful. However, if things are as I fear, and bringing him back to the states is going to be simply impossible, we're determined to give him the best life we can while we're here with him.

So! Until next time! The next post is going to be a sort of time-warp post, I think. Instead of writing about the stuff I said I was going to write about, I'll be writing about something else as usual. This time, I'll be skipping ahead a few weeks. Jill and I went to Kagoshima yesterday, so the next blog post will be about that. (There will be pictures, too! WIN) ttfn~

Kansai Airport - Supposed Departure

2008-01-31T06:50:00.000-08:00

As the sun set on the third day, it was clear that I needed to have love's first kiss soon, or else I'd turn back into a mermaid and belong to Ursula forev- oh, wait. Wrong story.

The sun setting in Osaka as seen from the Airport Express Train

After Jillian and I left Rokko island, the mood was fairly somber. It has been a fun trip, but I wasn't sure when I'd be seeing Jillian next, and we were both pretty mopey and weepy. To lighten the mood, we joked that maybe I should just change my ticket so that I could stay for another three weeks. We both knew, of course, that this was next to impossible, since the money required was probably out of our range, and on such short notice, well... it was fun to dream about, anyway.

A quick snapshot of Jill and me at the Kansai airport

My flight was to depart at 6:55, so we arrived at about a quarter to five, since it's recommended that you get to the airport at least two hours before your flight leaves if it's an international one. We rushed about with all of our luggage, me groping about in my pockets in an effort to make sure that I had my flight reservation number and passport in easy-to-access places. When we finally got to the check-in desk, we saw this:

The longest and slowest-moving line I think I've ever had to wait in

To my surprise, and in a small way, horror, I realized that the line not only went down nearly half of the terminal, but also wrapped around into a monstrous queue once it turned the corner towards the desk. I asked a man with a badge if this was the United / ANA line, just to make sure, and he nodded sadly before handing me a piece of paper.

The explanation was something along the lines of:

"Dear customer,

Unfortunately, due to a very vague reason, (something along the lines of "operational issues") your flight has been canceled. This is not because you suck, or have terrible luck, although it probably feels that way. Because you're going to be waiting here for a very, very long time, it's probably best that you try to make light of the situation. At least you're able to stay in wonderful Japan a bit longer! Hopefully, you've brought a book or something to keep you occupied.

Because we don't want your day to be completely horrible, we'll definitely put you up and feed you for the night, so don't worry about that. Granted, we're not going to feed you until you're done with this line, although the restaurant does take it's last orders at 11:00. With any luck, you should be out of here by then.

Again, we're very sorry for the inconvenience. Because this is Japan, we seriously cannot apologize enough. For us to deliver you this news shames us more than is even expressible on paper. It makes us want to crawl under this desk and die as we're writing this. Regardless, you're still going to be waiting here for a while, so as we said before, we hope you've got a book or something.

Hugs and kisses,
United ANA Airlines"

Luckily for me, I did happen to have a book, and Jillian brought along her Nintendo DS, although she was sad to say that she'd only brought her kanji practice game. (At least it was educational!) The line was moving very slowly, and was very, very long, so after about an hour or so of eavesdropping, we go to know our neighbors.

Ahead of us in line were Liam, Ann and Lena. (sp?) Lena, the one waiting for her flight, was headed back to Brooklyn, where she lives and works. She's part of a publishing company that's a branch of Fox News, but Lena assured us that her company is much more hip and liberal than its parent. She had been visiting Ann and Liam for a couple of weeks, and slowly became more and more stressed out as time went on.

Liam, a sardonic, boisterous guy from New Jersey, is part of the JET program. He was teaching in some remote area near the inland sea, and caught the shinkansen to come visit with Ann and Lena. He has a major in Asian studies, (or something like that) and is really excited about the new Super Smash Brothers game.

Ann, a cheerful young lady with a sharp wit from New York, is also part of the JET program. She is often mistaken for one of her students by her peers at the elementary school she teaches at near Himeji. (Since she is small, and Chinese, it wasn't terribly hard to believe) She created her own Asian Art and Theature (or something like that) major, and really liked Jillian's Tako-Chan, who you'll see later.

Behind us were an American guy and his Japanese wife, and his wife's parents. I only really spoke with the guy, but didn't learn his name. We spoke for a while about the Golden Compass series as a response to the Chronicles of Narnia, since I was reading The Amber Spyglass at the time. (Thanks, Charlie, for the info about the controversy!) He and his wife were trying to get back to California. Unfortunately, he was admittedly not very good at Japanese, but fortunately was in the process of trying to quit smoking. (He said, "If I can make it through this line without a cigarette, I'm pretty sure I'm set)

Jill and I chatted with the JET folks most, and about a huge variety of things, from fish in Lake Biwa and the Great Lakes, Evergreen Contracts, sex, vomit, ATM machines, line-drying clothes, Snakes on a Plane, and video games. (Much, much more, I assure you)

Around seven o'clock, it became pretty clear that there was no way Jill was going to make it back to Kobe to have dinner with Charlie and Moritani-sensei as planned, so she texted them an apology explaining the situation. At one point, we started taking shifts watching the luggage and walking around to Starbucks or other food stops, at least until they closed at 10:00. After about four hours of waiting we started to get really antsy. Liam had begun to speculate that they probably saved the best travel plans for the people in the back of the line, since likely to be the angriest. While it kind of made sense, I think he was just trying to give Lena a little hope, since she was getting pretty agitated by now. (She hadn't eaten anything at all in the six hours we had been waiting, despite the snacks the rest of us has been sharing - Jill and I were really thankful for the omiyage snacks people had been giving us upon our departure!) Finally, around 10:50, after nearly six hours of waiting around we finally made it to the counter.

Jillian and I had agreed that as we've worked customer service and had dealt with lots of angry people before, we were going to be really nice to whoever had to deal with us. The man who helped us looked really tired, as if hundred of people who had been standing around in line had been yelling at him practically all day. (Naturally, that was probably the case) The people we'd seen leaving the line all looked even more unhappy than the people waiting in line, and on more occasions than I can count we head very angry and very loud shouting coming from the direction of the counter.

This poor guy explained to us that the flight had indeed been canceled, and that the options he could give us were limited. (So much for the best plans for the last people) The soonest option would be Monday, (It was Saturday at the time) and would involve me taking a plane to Shanghai, and then transferring from there to a plane that would take me to LAX, then flying back to Seatac. Wary of having to go to yet another country, I asked what my other options were. He looked at his screen and said that the next best would probably be Tuesday, and would involve me flying to a local airport near Tokyo, taking a bus to Narita International Aiport, and then flying to Sanfrancisco from there. (Or was it Tokyo Monday, Shanghai Tuesday? Either way, it doesn't matter too much...)

I wasn't pleased, but did my best to assure the man that I knew this wasn't his fault, and that waiting around hadn't been that bad - we'd made some new friends. Jill and I took a moment to chat, and Jill jokingly said that maybe I really should stay for another three weeks after all, as we'd talked about earlier. The man overheard and said that if I wanted to change my flight for something like, three weeks later, it was definitely possible. I said something along the lines of, "Huh, really?" and he was like, "Yes, if you're able to be that flexible, it would really help us out..."

Jill and I went over the pros and cons of this plan for all of about thirty seconds. I considered the classes I'd be missing, but hastily assumed that since I'd be studying Japanese language and culture in Olympia if I went back on Monday anyway, why not learn about it in Japan? (More on this later) We'd have to buy another ferry ticket, oh, and what about all our stuff? We'd be lugging it back to Miyazaki... and what if I couldn't stay for three weeks without losing credit after all?? At least I'd already written Linda a check for January rent...

The man, still listening, said that he could give me a flexible ticket, with which I would be able to change my departure date at will with a quick phone call at no extra charge. He also said that since "Sison-san" was so gracious as to help the airline out by giving them an extra seat at such a dire time, he could definitely upgrade me to a business class seat as well.

Well, that was about all the convincing I needed, so we set the departure date tentatively for January 28th, three weeks later than originally planned. He thanked us heartily, both on the airline's behalf as well as his own - he said that he was thrilled and relieved to have spoken with such a nice couple after such a long day. He even went so far as to make sure that accommodations could be made for Jillian as well, and called ahead to the hotel to ensure that they knew Jill was coming too, despite not having a boarding pass. He also gave us extra meal tickets, then told us to rush to the restaurant as soon as possible, since the last order would be happening in less than five minutes.

(Lena, unfortunately, did not have as easy a time as we did. Although I wasn't paying too much attention, she did start to cry at one point, although Lian and Ann were doing their best to comfort her... I really hoped that they would make it to the restaurant in time, too)

Lucky for us, we made it nearly just in time, as did our friend and his wife from behind us in line. (He had argued his way into a two tickets for Narita the next morning - he was pretty proud!) The free food was great after six hours of waiting in line, although we were worried about Lena and our JET friends. They did eventually show up, though, and after some pleading with the host, were allowed to come in late and order as well. Jill exchanged cell phone info with superior Japanese technology, (it's this wireless thing where you put the phones next to each other...) and we went up to the room.

The view from our hotel room

The hotel room itself, again, free, was spectacular. I'd gone to drop our stuff off at the front desk before rushing to the restaurant, and the check-in desk had had our bags brought up to the room. It was a big room, with two beds, and more space than we knew what to do with. That wasn't much of a problem, though, since we pretty much immediately went to sleep - it had been a really long day, despite having just waiting around for most of it.

Our stuffed friends Small Lily, Lilac, ChisaNeko to OkiNeko, Big Lily, and Tako-Chan

Oh! One more cool thing about this hotel I wanted to add in before I finish this post - they had both The New Testament in Japanese and The Teachings of Buddha in English in the hotel room. Charlie had mentioned that he'd seen a Buddhist text in a hotel room in Japan before, but this was the first time I'd seen it in person! (The hotel we'd stayed at in Kobe, as well as the one in Rokko Island, had neither) A little random, sure, but still cool! Having learned a lot about the graduation assimilation and development of Buddhism in Japan during Fall Quarter, it was pretty neat to see the fruits of the centuries of sowing in such an unexpected place.

Holy Texts, Hurrah!

Well, that's about it for now. This one turned out way longer than I thought it would. Maybe it helps convey how really really long it felt like to wait in the airport, though! At the end of the day, I was so thrilled, shocked, and in such a state of disbelief that sleeping was difficult despite how tired I was. I was supposed to be somewhere over the Pacific ocean, and here I was, Jill snoozing beside me, about to stay in Japan double the time as originally planned. Somehow I knew that things were going to be so simple, though. I called home with the free phone call the airline had also provided me, and Jill e-mailed her parents with her phone explaining what had happened as best she could. The academic scramble would come later, I knew, although I wasn't sure yet how my faculty would take my missing three weeks of class. Also, I pretty much out of money, since I'd only budgeted for a three-week stay, and had almost not even made that...

Ah, well, it's all worked out for the most part. This concludes the prequel, I think. From here on out, it's just Miyazaki stuff and refections, I think. I don't know. I guess we'll just see!

A Short List - Also, some quick observations about dining here

2008-01-30T07:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick list of some things I really miss about the states:

Family and Friends
Annie! (Omega Mu Gamma's doggie)
Being able to drive around in my car
Hot water in the immediate bathroom sink
Certain kinds of food - I really want to eat some of these things
- Mexican food (both authentic and inauthentic)
- Greek Food (I really want a gyro...)
- Cheese (Cheese is scarce and strange here)
- Hamburgers with buns that aren't from a fast food restaurant
- Pear tarts
- The Old Spaghetti Factory's Hearty Mizithra
- There's definitely more than that but I'm tired

However, there is one strange this here that beats burgers in the states. Check our Japan McDonalds' Mega burgers!

McDonalds' メガたまご　(Mega Tamago - Egg) と　メガトマト (Mega Tomato)

I totally ate that Mega Tamago on a dare. How gross am I? Pretty gross, lemme tell ya. There's plenty of things that I really like here, though, especially curry rice.

Eating here is definitely something I've had to get used to. First off, the portions are, as expected, for the most part smaller. Depending on where you go, food can be really expensive or really, well, not. It's just a matter of finding a place that's the right combination of inexpensive and tasty. Restaurants, even ones styled to be kind of like a western diner, almost always give you the little moist towels (usually disposable, depending on how classy the places is) to use on your hands, especially if you're having finger foods.

Tipping doesn't happen here. Also, tax is included on all all menu items. (This is true in retail as well) The national tax is 5%, so you see a lot of prices of things like 105 yen or 315 yen. Most of the time, prices are round numbers with the tax on top, though there are definitely exceptions. (It's unusual to see something with a price like 1999 yen in Japan, unless you're buying really big things... like Minamatsuri Dolls at Toys R Us)

It's fairly uncommon for your waiter (although more often than not, waitress) to serve you water. Most of the time, you're expected to go to the drink bar and pour your own. After you're done looking at the menu, there's a button that you can push to summon someone to come take your order. I would've been so lost and confused if Jill wasn't here to show me all of this stuff the first time I went to a restaurant.

Another thing we've experienced a lot that I'll write about more later is that folks working in what would probably be considered minimum wage retail positions in the states are almost universally college-age. Japan's employment system typically seems to hire folks practically immediately out of college, and since positions in company jobs have age-limits and the potential for lifetime employment, if one finds a job when they're young, they'll usually stick with it.

Or that's my understanding of it so far. Small, family owned restaurants, of course, are quite different, where a husband and wife may run the business and thus are both servers and chefs, but in corporate retail spots like McDonald's or Toys R Us, (since they're familiar and I'm already using them as examples... there's plenty of similar Japanese companies) the visible employees are pretty much all in their twenties - likely working their way through college.

It's kinda interesting, to me at least! I need to read more about Japan, and will be doing so. Next time, I'll finally write about what happened at the airport. Other things planned - a short creative moment with Shiva-Chan, reflections on friendship among guys in Japan, and Japanese language classes here at Miyadai. 'till next time!

Time with Charlie and Rokko Mountain

2008-01-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

After we dropped our things off on Rokko Island, Jillian and I went to go meet Charlie in Kobe for lunch. We couldn't actually check in until later that afternoon, so we just left our things with the concierge at the front desk. Since Jill and Charlie really wanted Thai food, we went to this cute little place that Charlie knew about near Sannomiya. The place was cozy, and packed, so we actually shared a table with two Japanese women, but didn't speak with them much because of a partition placed between us since we weren't really the same party. Eating Thai food with Jill was really nostalgic, since it's something we did a LOT in Olympia. (Olympia has something like, at least six different Thai restaurants... we've eaten at pretty much all of them)

After eating, Charlie suggested that we go up to Kobe 北　(North Kobe) since it was just a few blocks away from where we ate. Jill and I weren't interesting in anymore shopping, since we already had so much stuffed-'till-bursting luggage back at the hotel, so we decided to take the Skyway up to the Rokko Mountain Herb garden, which Charlie said was pretty cool.

Rokko Mountain Skyway

Fortunately for us, it was a sunny, if somewhat chilly day, so the view of Kobe was pretty breathtaking. Unfortunately, my pictures from the top of the mountain didn't turn out super-well, but I've still got some from around the mountain!

Rokko Mountain Herb House and Spice Museum

At the top of the mountain, there's a neat little gift shop that sells seeds and perfume and things from the herbs on the mountain. They've also got this neat display of how fragrance is extracted from plants and herbs, and a big, detailed doll house, although I'm not sure why it was there exactly. There's also this spot where they have four scents lined up in a row in different bottles, and each bottle has a letter and a color associated with it. After smelling them all, you're supposed to decide which was your favorite, and which was your least favorite. Depending on which you've chosen, there's a kind of personality analysis sheet you can (in theory) read. Unfortunately, since there was way too much kanji for me to understand, I couldn't decipher it, but it was still fun to try!

Doll House near the gift shop

As we continued down the mountain, we found the herb garden itself. Unfortunately, since it's winter, a lot of the plants weren't blooming in full force, but guests are encouraged to touch and smell the leaves and flowers that are available. Sadly, Charlie had a really bad cold, so he couldn't smell too much, but we had a fun time looking for plants we recognized and seeing them in their semi-natural state. They had little plots for pretty much every herb I could think of! The nerd in be got really excited that I could remember what kinds of potions (or poisons) could be made from some of these plants in various video games I've played. It was cool to see!

Past the herb gardens is the greenhouse and spice museum. Inside they had lots of interesting plants, as well as the spice museum where you could grind up and smell the plants and herbs after they'd been harvested and manufactured.

Fox Fruit (Citrus)

A grind-and-sniff section of the Spice Museum, complete with Mortar and Pestle!

We stayed in the welcome warmth of the greenhouse for a while, and smelled more things in jars - some good, and others not so much. (I kept going back to Cinnamon between tries because it was easily my favorite - licorice a close second) Charlie said that it would probably take another half hour or so to hike down the rest of the mountain, but because Jill wanted to make it back before it got too late since we'd left our bags at the front desk, we decided to take the Skyway back down the second half of the mountain.

Before heading back to Rokko Island, we bought some of these amazing little Manneken waffles they sell at the Kobe Train Station. Since I was supposed to return to the states the next day, Charlie and I had our farewells before we headed back for the island.

OH! One odd thing that happened though before we headed back was that Charlie and I were waiting for Jill near the bathrooms when an older, and probably fairly drunk Japanese gentleman approached us and asked us where we were from. I looked to Charlie, not sure what to do, and Charlie looked back at me expectantly. The man tapped me on the shoulder and repeated the question, which surprised me since Charlie is slightly more clearly a foreigner than I am, but I responded "America" hesitantly. The guy got really excited and started asking me questions in slurred English, and I did my best to respond in Japanese. That got him really riled up, and he started to raise his voice saying, "Wow! Very good Japanese!!" He was also starting to spit while he was speaking. Charlie just seemed amused.

Eventually, the man's friend, or son or something found him and pulled him away, saying that they were gonna miss their train. I nodded at his companion in grateful relief, but the man pulling the drunk guy away just looked kind of agitated. The drunk guy shouted that he needed to go, because he was gonna miss his train, and went away.

But yeah! Adventures! Next time, I'll write about the airport - after I list some things I miss, because I do miss some things. I'm not sure if it's homesickness or what, but goodness... anyway, new post! 'till next time!

Kansai (Again) - Rokko Island

2008-01-29T08:15:00.000-08:00

When Jill and I arrived in Osaka, our first goal was to find our hotel on Rokko Island near Kobe so we could drop off our stuff. Rokko Island is one of the artificial islands off the coast of Osaka, and has only been around for a little longer than I have. We were pleased to find that our hotel was easily within walking distance of the train station, especially since despite Jill's efforts to pack light, we were heavily encumbered with gifts and clothes.

Rokko Island Shopping Center - Where Japan hides its UFO

That's not really a UFO, but the building behind it is where we stayed. The UFO-structure is actually a showroom of some sort, and connected to it is the Kobe Fashion Museum.

Now, Rokko Island is a really interesting place, since in a lot of ways, it's kind of an odd ghost-town. While it definitely has a yuppie-ish almost wannabe Bellevue kinda atmosphere, it really felt like a place that wanted to be a lot more "happenin" than it actually was. That's not to say that it wasn't neat, but the huge vacant lots and over 50% of retail spaces that looked like they'd never been used made the place a little spooky.

The empty Rokko courtyard fountain - Where are all the teenagers?

Oddly enough, there were a lot of foreigners or Rokko Island. Guests, we assumed, of the hotel we were staying at. Most of the housing on the island looked like condos, and the Japanese people we did see around all appeared to be either young families, or retired couples. While I do admit that the emptiness of the island may have just been because it was kind of an off-season, the surprising amount of un-used or un-occupied space really confused me. Rokko Island must either be really expensive, or really undesirable to have retail space on,

For all of its weirdness, I really liked Rokko Island. Although its one train line was a little expensive, its few stores were all outlet-like stores, and sold odd things at liquidation prices. If I hadn't already bought the majority of my gifts, I probably would've done more shopping there.

Water Stairs in a Rokko Mall

Rokko Island also had lots of different kinds of food, including kaiten sushi, fry-your-own tempura, curry, ome-rice, McDonald's, Wendy's, Subway, Starbucks, Italian food, bakeries, takoyaki, and much much more! Jill and I tried a few different places, although I'd really like to try the make-your-own tempura place if we can ever find another one. There was also a spot in the Rokko Plaza (Where our hotel was) that had lots of independent vendors in it. One lady at a chicken-wing vendor wanted to practice English with us, and even gave us a discount for some hot wings! It was really nice of her! (Again, we get so lucky!)

Takoyaki take-out on Rokko Island

I'm spending kind of a lot of time talking about a strange people-made island, but I really thought it was pretty fascinating. There was also a movie theater and "50's American Furniture Shop" there, but the furniture being sold was all like 80,000-yen+. (Jill and I assumed that since it looked antiquey, and was shipped from the states, it justified the price... sort of?) It also would've been really cool to have gone to the Kobe Fashion Museum, but it wasn't open while we were there. I'm really glad that we got to stay in such a quaint place!

Our view of Kobe from the Hotel Room

I'll stop for now, since Shiva is being a little monster. Next time - the Rokko Mountain Herb Garden, and the would've-been departure from the airport.

QuickNote: HinaMatsuri

2008-01-29T08:02:00.000-08:00

I keep putting off writing about the actual return to Kansai, but I promise it's not intentional! Here's a quick note about ひなまつり。(Girl's Day)

So, hinamatsuri is held on March 3rd, (the third day of the third month.) What I wanted to write about really quick is the dolls. (There's a Boy's Day too, but I don't know much about it)

Hinamatsuri dolls aren't dolls to be played with, but are more like ceremonial displays that are handed down from generation to generation. The dolls are dressed up in traditional kimonos from the Heian period. (794-1194, about) I've studied the Heian period quite a bit, and while it was a time of immense cultural flourishing, it was also a time where less than 10% of the nation held 90% of its wealth, murder, theft and rape were rampant, and most people lived pretty miserable lives. Interestingly enough, because of this imbalance the aristocracy were able to live really luxurious lives, which provided them with the leisure and stability needed to create amazing works of art, including calligraphy, monogatari (narratives) poetry, and paintings. That's a little off-subject, though, so I'll get back to the dolls.

The dolls are set up on platforms that symbolize the tiers of Heian society, in a sense. On the top, of course, is the Emperor and his wife. Below him are servants, then musicians, and finally peasants and things. The dolls are extremely detailed and really expensive. Here's an example of a display that can be found at the local Toys R Us.

A ひな祭り　display for sale at Toys R Us

This particular set is a kind of deluxe, top of the line set available today. Sets can also be found at department stores, and are also passed down from mother to daughter. When I looked at how much a set like this cost, I understood why it's common for them to be passed down!

That's over $1000!

Again, this is a really nice set, and could easily be passed down for generations. Still, that price tag boggled me! I hope that whichever little girl gets that set appreciates it!

The Return to Kansai - Ferry

2008-01-29T07:39:00.000-08:00

As my trip to Japan drew to its supposed end, I found that all of the gifts and things I'd been buying over my three-week stay had started to pile up. Since Jillian wanted to send some things back to the states through me as well, she offered that I borrow her larger suitcase. Jillian was sweet enough to accompany me back to Osaka, since our travel plans didn't exactly pan out as we'd hoped. Because we waited a little too long to buy ferry tickets, most of the trips we wanted were completely booked due to the end of the holiday season. Fortunately, we were able to find a spot on the ferry that would depart a day before our ideal time, which meant that our only inconvenience was finding a hotel for the extra night. Midori, with her booking expertise, found us an amazing hotel with a great price even on such short notice, but I'll get into the hotel later.

The ferry for the return trip to Osaka, unlike the trip to Miyazaki, was pretty much packed. This actually wasn't so bad, though, since we made some nice friends on this trip!

The Ferry Gift Shop - items featuring Miyazaki's famous governor, of course, are for sale here.

The people sleeping next to Jill and I were a middle-aged couple traveling back to their home in Osaka after visiting family in Miyazaki. The husband, who never revealed his name, introduced himself by asking us if we drink sake. Jill and I hesitantly said yes, and he kindly poured some for us in styrofoam cups. He didn't know much English, but we were able to convey that we're both International students from America, that Jillian is studying birds in Miyazaki, and that I was visiting her for the break. When his wife arrived from the gift shop, she offered us some salted squid to snack on, and started to chat with us as well. She knew a tiny bit of English, but mostly spoke in rapid Japanese that Jillian was able to follow much more easily than I was. Wanting to share food as well, I offered them some of the toffees I still had from America as well as some cheese manju we'd bought in Miyazaki.

During our shared snack and conversation, we overheard a girl a few sleeping spaces over reading in English with headphones on. She was practicing reading and listening at the same time, and when our new friend (We'll call her Michiko, since that's a pretty common name) realized that she was studying, she asked the girl's mother if she could get her to come over and talk with us.

Michiko, while friendly, was surprisingly outspoken, but the mother seemed really excited for her daughter to have a chance to practice English. While her daughter was shy and surprised at first, we quickly learned that she was much better at English than she thought. We learned that her name was Tomomi, and that she was a freshman in high school. We spoke for a while in the same fashion as at the bar in Aoshima, with asking questions in one language and answering in another. Tomomi expressed that she was feeling really "doki-doki" which is the onomatopoeia for a heart-thumping. We insisted that she needn't be nervous at all, and that her English was much better than our Japanese. She went on to say that she is actually the worst in her class, even though English is her favorite subject. She also told us that her younger brother, (who was really, really tall) while not very good at English, wanted to speak with us too, but was even more shy than she was.

Tomomi's mother spoke with us for a bit, too. She talked about her son, (Who was totally sitting right there, listening to his I-pod) is a baseball player, and is really good at math, if not very good at English. He did eventually come and shake our hands after a while, and introduced himself as Tomomi's younger brother. They also told us that they were from Kyoto, and were visiting their grandparents in Miyazaki. It was a fun little exchange, and we shared more snacks with Tomomi and her family and the Osaka couple as well.

The next morning, as the boat was docking, Tomomi came over and gave Jill and I both little notes written in English. She also wanted to take a picture with us so that she could tell her class about her experience. We took some pictures too, but since my camera wasn't handy, we used Jill's phone instead. (I'll try to put them up later!) While Tomomi went away to eat breakfast, I wrote a note for her as well and tried to fold it in the same prety fashion she'd folded hers, although hers was much more precise and presentable. Still, she seemed really happy to get a note in return, and we all parted happily. (For some reason, though, I got the feeling that Tomomi's dad might not have liked us very much, since he kind of sat grumpily in the corner while the other seven of us chatted, shared food and had fun.)

Tomomi, Jill, me, and Tomomi's brother (I can't remember his name!) [Added after the time of posting - now I've got access to Jill's pictures, too!)

I was really happy with the trip, and joked with Jill about how before the trip, when we were dreading the full-ship, I'd said that we would just have to make the ferry into a huge party-boat. While not exactly what I had in mind, it really was like a party, and made the voyage that much more enjoyable.

New Year's Temple

2008-01-29T07:17:00.000-08:00

I totally forgot to write about what we did for New Year's Eve after we went to the Izakaya! To backtrack a little, Jillian, Midori, Max and I went to an Izakaya (all you can eat / drink place) to celebrate New Year's Eve. After a train ride back to Kibana and a quick break to warm up again, we visited the Kibana-jingu, or Kibana area's shrine.

Since it was kind of dark, my pictures didn't turn out super well, which is why I forgot to mention this visit earlier. Luckily, Midori managed to get a quick snapshot of me making a praying at the shrine despite failing to toss a coin into the wish-money receptacle.

Me making a wish at the Kibana Shrine

Although missing is uncommon enough be considered unlucky, I was fortunate enough to have done this before the New Year actually started. Supposedly, your luck kind of "resets" at the beginning of each new year, so I tried again after midnight and made it in. (Whew!)

At larger shrines, the crowds are usually pretty large, and Midori says that there's usually some sizable bonfires, too. Kibana, being small, only had a few braziers lit and one smallish fire in a stone pit, but I was grateful for the friendly atmosphere and breathing room. Since almost every time we visit a temple we purchase おみくじ、(o-mi-ku-ji, or fortunes) they kind of tend to pile up in your wallet / purse after a while. That is, of course, unless you get lots of un-lucky fortunes, in which case you're suppose to tie them up to the string set-up near the temple to be burned later. There's twelve different levels of luck or misfortune that can be foretold by the little slips of folded paper you can buy, but most shrines use a simplified version of about six or seven different levels. I'm fortunate enough to have always gotten things like "fair" or "a little" luck, but Jillian has received 大吉 or "best possible luck" fortunes three times! (Fortunes are usually sold for hyaku-en, or less than a dollar)

As part of the fortune-reset process, people at the shrine burned all of the fortunes they'd accumulated over the past year. Some of them also burned the good-luck arrows from last year before buying new ones. Immediately after midnight, everyone got in line to make wishes and ring the shrine's bell again, and those of us there were also served a nice, super-hot red-bean tea, and a small saucer of sake if we wanted.

Since Kibana is pretty small, most of the people there that night were college students, but there were a few families as well. Lots of people seemed to know each other, but even though Max, Jill and I were kind of on the side except for one young woman who chatted with us in some English for a little while, it was still a fun and interesting experience! I did miss seeing fireworks and things like that in the states, but it was nice to have a semi-quiet and relaxing New Year's Eve.

Gifting Culture

2008-01-24T21:04:00.000-08:00

This isn't a hugely academic cultural observation, but more just the things I've experienced as far as giving gifts goes. In Japan, giving gifts is a pretty big deal. There's certain holidays where you give certain people gifts, and the first time you meet people is also a good time to give gifts too. Also, if you travel somewhere new, it's nice to bring back omiyage (again, souvenirs) from the place you went to for all of your good friends.

While in Kansai, Jillian made sure to pick up one treat or another for her friends back at Miyazaki. Usually this was some kind of famous sweet in the area. (like Yatsuhachi, these little triangular things that I unfortunately don't have a picture of from Kyoto) A few days before my flight left for Japan, Jillian reminded me that I should really bring some gifts characteristic of the Northwest for the people I was going to meet. Pike Place Market in Seattle seemed like a good place to go, so I picked up some trinkets there as well as at the Mariner's Team Store, and also bought some Starbucks Liqueur for Hirase-Sensei, the international exchange professor.

For no really good reason, here's a picture of Jillian and a Miyazaki Pineapple. Aren't they cute and tiny?

My first experience with impromptu gifting was when Jillian, Charlie and I visited Moritani-Sensei at Kobe University. (That's not actually what it's called, but it's got some long Engineering name that I can't remember) Moritani-Sensei visited Evergreen last year and sat in on some of our language classes. In retrospect, I really should've given Moritani-Sensei some kind of omiyage, but I didn't know I was going to be seeing him at the time! Moritani-Sensei kindly treated us to lunch, and then took us to meet Nishide-Sensei, a self-proclaimed おかしい　(okashii - strange) teacher from Osaka who is planning to visit Evergreen next year. Nishide-Sensei is really excited about going to Evergreen, because he thinks that since Evergreen is well known for being so laid-back, that it'll be a kind of vacation for him. He was really excited to meet some new Evergreen students, and said things like, "Please, I'm a very easy man, so speak to me however you like" implying that we didn't need to use such formal speech as we usually did and "I'm so glad to meet such funky guys!" referring to our pose in the picture below.

Charlie, Jillian and I in Nishide-Sensei's Office

As プレセント、(PuReSenTo - presents) he gave us that thing I'm wearing on my head, a battery-powered race car, a key chain of an anime character that's over forty-years old that none of us recognized, and some sweets. He then said, "I know that you might not want these, so please pass them on to someone else if that is the case." Feeling like I should offer something, too, I dug around in my bag but could only find a slightly squished Nature Valley snack bar. He laughed and said that it was alright, and insisted that we all hang out when he comes to Evergreen.

The next time I was confronted with wanting to give gifts, I was actually prepared. When Jillian and I first got on the bus to catch the ferry from Osaka to Miyazaki, a nice lady helped us out with the paperwork and finding our way there. When we left the ferry the next day, she showed us to the bus stop, and waited with us for a while. When her husband arrived to pick her up, she offered to take us to the train station, so that we could take the train to the college instead of having to take a bus, and then a train. Surprised that we'd lucked out again, (People have been so nice to us while we're here!) we gratefully accepted her offer, and loaded our luggage and selves into the back seat of her husband's car. Jillian made small talk when questioned by the couple, explaining that she was studying とり　(tori - birds) at Miyazaki, and that she is an exchange student is going to be here for a year. I embarrassedly explained that my Japanese is not as good as Jillian's, and that was I just here to visit. When we told them that we're from the area near Seattle, they excitedly asked us about Ichiro and the Mariners, and gave us some みっかん、 (mikkan - small mandarin oranges) to snack on. They praised Jillian's speaking skills, but Jillian of course responded humbly, telling them that she still had a long way to go. The couple told us that taking us all the way to the college really wasn't that far out of the way, so they took us all the way to the dorm. (How sweet of them!!)

This time, I was ready though! I totally busted out some Ichiro and Johjima key chains and American sweets to give them as we unloaded. We thanked them heartily, and they tried to protest and decline my gifts and first, but eventually accepted them graciously. I was really happy when the husband got excited to see what I'd given them, which I'd only bought extras of by chance!

During my time here, I've filled up the extra suitcase that originally contained Christmas gifts for Jillian with Christmas gifts for both of our families. Poor Charlie is actually in custody of said suitcase now, since we left it with him thinking we'd be back to pick it up shortly, but that was before we knew that my stay was going to be quadrupled in length. As for Hirase-Sensei's liqueur, I found out too late that he actually doesn't drink, but he said that his wife would surely enjoy it. Now I know that Hirase-Sensei actually really likes calendars from different countries and Batdorf and Bronson Coffee (from Olympia.) Next time I return, I won't disappoint!

Kaori, Kazue, and the return to Kansai!

2008-01-24T20:12:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know, Kaori is a friend of Jillian and mine that came to Evergreen last year through the same Miyazaki-Evergreen exchange program that allowed Jillian to come study here for a year. Jill met Kaori through Tsutsumi-Sensei, (a Japanese language and culture professor that Jill and I have both worked with quite a bit at Evergreen) and I met Jill and Kaori through Hirai-Sensei's Beginner's Japanese class. Kaori was working as Hirai-Sensei's Teacher's Aide when I met her, although she was also teaching an extra curricular calligraphy class and before-class tutoring sessions as well.

Kaori, Jillian and I enjoying Kaiten Sushi in Miyazaki

Kaori graduated from Evergreen last year, but she is also going to be graduating from Miyazaki this year. Unfortunately, because I was in Alaska at the time of her ceremony in Olympia, I didn't have a chance to attend. After graduation in Olympia, Kaori and her friend Kazumi had planned a road trip around the west coast, including California, Oregon, Nevada, and Idaho, I think. Although Jillian and I had a little influence at the front office for on-campus summer housing, Kaori didn't need the quarter-long lease that was the only thing they could provide. Since I was going to be in Alaska anyway, I suggested that Kaori use my place to stay at and prepare for her trip, since she also had a lot of things she wanted to pack and ship to Japan before returning.

Kaori has done so much for Jill and I that we're always more than happy to spend time with her, too. Throughout the quarter she would often hang out with us and our friends, helping us with our Japanese as we helped her with our English. We also cooked a lot of times together, Kaori often exposing us to Americanized Japanese dishes with fun, improvised ingredients. She and another exchange student, Kanako, also spent some time with Jill at her family's house in Bellevue during one of the breaks last year.

A few weeks ago, Jillian had the opportunity to visit Kaori's family's home here on Kyushu. Jill wrote a two part entry about her trip here and here.

Me, Jill and Kaori eating (Surprise Surprise) Okonomiyaki

Jillian and I are really blessed with having so many kind friends here in Japan. Charlie let us stay with him for a while and showed us around in Kansai, (He also provides continuing moral support!) Midori helps us plan trips and book hotels or search for things we're hoping to buy online to help us find the best price, Satomi drives Jillian to places both exotic and mundane, Max accompanies us downtown or walks with Jillian places late at night so she won't be alone when I'm not around, Erina, (one of Jillian's floor mates) takes care of Shiva-chan when we're away, and Kaori has shared her time, car, and home with Jillian more times than we can remember. Everyone, of course, also constantly helps us with our Japanese.

A few days before I left, Kaori took us to a hotel bar in Aoshima to meet her friend, Kazue. Kazue used to live in the International Dorm where Jillian lives now before she graduated a few years ago, although she is not an international student. (A lot of Japanese students live in the International Dorm because they like the people and ambiance there) She, (Kazue) is just starting out as an elementary school teacher, and was excited to meet Jillian and I as she wanted to practice some English. It's kind of funny, because lots of people want to practice English with Americans, and and lot of Americans want to practice their Japanese at the same time. So, it becomes this kind of bi-lingual conversation, with Jill and I asking questions or answering in Japanese, and the people we're talking with asking questions or answering in English. It's actually really fun, since both sides get to listen and respond, although we also sometimes switch it up so that we can listen to proper pronunciation as well. (Kaori, of course, was always available to translate if things got complicated.)

Kaori, Kazue, me and Jill at the bar where Kazue used to work

I was really energetic the night we went to visit, (the same night as the kaiten sushi picture to pictures above, actually) so I was really excited to speak in Japanese, too. The bar wasn't very busy, and Kazue's co-workers, who were also Miyazaki University students, came and spoke with us as well. It was a fun opportunity for us all to practice the languages we were learning, even if it was a little unexpected. We started with simple questions like, "What are your favorite American movies?" to which they responded, "Die Hard" and "E.T." I explained that 「こどものとき、私のうちに亀がいました。亀の名前はE.T.でした。」 (Essentially, in my childhood, there was a turtle at my house. His name was E.T.)

Kaori, Kazue's coworkers, myself and Jill. (The guy on the left liked E.T., and the guy on the right liked Die Hard)

When I asked the men if we (Jillian and I) were like they imagined Americans to be, they said that we were smaller than they imagined Americans (more slender) and that I was really talkative. I had to laugh that off, of course! They also said that when they first met me, they thought I looked like I could be a Japanese person, so I explained that 「私のおばあさんは東京に住んでいます。おばあさんは日本人です。」 (My grandma lives in Tokyo. She's Japanese) It's pretty simple Japanese, but I was glad to be able to use it!

The pretty fruit-champagne beverage that Jillian was adventurous enough to try. It was good, but a bit bitter for my taste. I went with a ストラベリーコラダ (Strawberry Colada) instead.

After visiting Kazue, Kaori took Jill and I back to the dorms. A few days after, Kaori was kind enough to drive Jillian and I to the Ferry Termial to catch the Osaka Express from Miyazaki to Osaka. (That's actually where the Okonomiyaki picture above comes from, too... don't you love how much pictures are horribly out of order?)

Me at the Ferry Terminal - That's the Osaka Express in the background!

Before I move on to the return to Kansai, I'm actually going to write a post about gifting culture here. There's also a really nice lady we met that I forgot to write about earlier, so I'll write a bit about her, too. This concludes the first Miyazaki visit for now, though. Don't worry, there will be plenty more about Miyazaki later!

X-Mas and New Year's

2008-01-24T09:46:00.000-08:00

I should start by saying that I messed up a little in my posting order. We actually went to Takachio two day after Christmas, I think. (So, December 27th) However, I wanted to write about Christmas and New Year's at the same time, because there were some cultural observations I wanted to state about the two.

Jillian and I showing off our matching Christmas socks from my Mom

Firstly, while Christmas is a big deal here, Jillian insists that Christmas Eve is an even bigger deal, especially for young couples. This is largely because while some places close on Christmas day, (but definitely not nearly all, like in the states) most are open late on Christmas Eve, since it's kind of a date-day. Apparently, lots of married couples reserve hotels for Christmas Eve, as Christmas Day is spent primarily with the family, although really, the really big family holiday is New Year's Eve and Day in Japan.

When Jill and I went to spend the day in Miyazaki City on Christmas Eve, we found that the bus from the train station to the mall was pretty much completely packed... with couples. More specifically, young couples, ranging probably from about sixteen to twenty-two years old. At the restaurant we ate at in the mall, (We had Okonomiyaki... hey, what can I say? I love it!) nearly every booth was also filled by couples going out on what I can only assume was their Christmas Eve Date. It was actually really cute, and reminded me a lot of Valentine's Day in the states. (Which they also have here, as well as White Day, but this was kind of different, I think)

Jillian's Delicious Make-shift Apple Pie

On Christmas Day in Japan, it was technically still Christmas Eve in the states. So the day after Christmas, Jillian used Skype to talk with her family on their Christmas Day. On Christmas day, we opened the plethora presents that Jill's and my families had sent along with me for Jill and Shiva, and Jill and I opened our presents for each other too. Jillian, of course, gave me remarkably cute and thoughtful gifts, including, but not limited to, a Japanese character chart to help me study, and apron and oven mitts for our kitchen, a pretty 1000 piece puzzle, since we never got to finish the puzzle we started at the Rivendell Cabin in Leavenworth, and some really adorable sponges, since she knows how much I dislike boring ones. Jill also wanted Christmas dinner to be really special, so we tried our best to make an apple pie, and kind of put together a hodge-podge feast of fried rice, pasta, chu-hai (sweet, fruit-flavored beer) and miso soup for the two of us and Max, another exchange student from Evergreen who is also a good friend of ours.

Jill and Max enjoying Christmas Dinner in the 4th Floor Common Room

It was a little strange on Christmas day to be in a place where everything wasn't shut down. The stores were all still mostly open, if on limited hours, and a lot of the people in the International Dormitory didn't have families to go visit, so people were just kind of hanging around like it was any other day. Admittedly, Christmas is a foreign holiday, but was surprises me is how Japan picks and chooses which holidays it chooses to learn about and recognize.

(Warning, this is kind of opinion-y) I realize this is kind of a strong example, but it was an account of an experience that really struck me. Liam, one of the JET English Teachers we met at the airport when I was supposed to return to the states, (more on that later) told us a story about a Jewish JET teacher he knew a few years ago. According to Liam, when it came closer to the winter holidays, his friend asked the principal at the school she was working at if she could teach about her own holiday, Hanukkah. The principal, however, said that it wasn't in the curriculum to teach about anything but Christmas, and refused. She explained that she didn't know anything about Christmas, as she'd never celebrated it before, but the principal insisted that she must know something about Christmas - she's American, after all.

These kinds of stereotypes about Americans kind of irk me, but I guess it's kind of ethnocentric or something for me to expect otherwise. After all, in America, we have some pretty gross generalizations about what Asian people are like, i.e., Japanese people are all really good at math, or whatever. In Japan, it seems to be the assumption that all Americans are, if not al blonde-haired and blue-eyed, pretty much universally white. In my Evergreenish naivete, I'd like to hope that people realize how diverse America's population really is, but when asked where I'm from here and I answer, "America," I can't escape from the follow-up question of, "Oh, but I mean... what's your ethnicity?" or, "Where are your parents from?"

Then again, I often get the same kind of question in the states, too. When someone asks where I'm "from," my usual answer of "Seattle" typically isn't enough for people. I feel like if I were white, and someone were to ask me where I came from, "Seattle" or "America" would definitely be enough, unless I had some sort of accent that would indicate that might be from Australia or Scotland or something.

Bleh. Part of me wants to digress into the whole "coconut" thing, (Brown on the outside, white on the inside) but I was writing about Christmas, or New Year's or something, wasn't I? Way to make it all about me, me!

So! New Year's. Unfortunately, we weren't able to experience the "family" New Year's Jill and I had sort of secretly hoped to get invited to, but we had a really pleasant informal New Year's Eve instead. Typically, New Year's in Japan is kind of a clean-up time, and a lot of non-perishable foods are prepared so that during the next week or so, people can enjoy spending time together without having to worry about cooking so much. Children usually receive otoshidama (pocket money) from their parents and grandparents, which can range from like, fifty to hundreds of dollars. In our Japanese class in Olympia, Hirai-sensei showed us a newscast showing the majority of these kids spending their money on toys and video games, of course.

For Jill and I, Christmas was spent relaxing with Jill's kitten, Shiva, under a warm Kotatsu. New Year's Eve, however, was spent with our friends Max (Evergreen) and Midori, (A graduating senior and Miyadai, and a long-time friend of the various exchange students who have come and gone) in downtown Miyazaki. We did some light shopping, and although we considered it, we didn't purchase any of the man-en New Year's surprise bags. (For 10,000 yen, or roughly $100, you can get a bag full of random Large, Medium, or Small-size clothing with a combined value of $300 - kind of a gamble, since the clothes you may get may not be entirely to your taste, but still interesting!) We'd made a reservation at an Izakaya, a kind of all-you-can-eat-and-drink establishment. The one we went to served shabu-shabu, (A kind of boil-your-own meat and veggie thing) and yakinikku (A kind of grill-your-own meat and veggie thing) Midori and Max went with the former, Jill and I with the latter.

Jill flipping some kind of meat on our grill-thing

Lucky for me, Jill was much more attentive about when we would put things on the grill than I was. Conveniently, the majority of the meat is sliced fairly thinly so that they cook quickly. Because it was all-you-can-eat, (For ninety minutes) Max and I were intent on eating as much as possible, although Midori emphasized that we should focus more on enjoying what we were eating, rather than stuffing it all down. Between the grilled beef, pork, chicken, onions, lettuce and carrots, screw drivers, peach and apple chu-hai, and melon-soda + ice cream + sake mixes, I was definitely more than satisfied by the time our ninety minutes were up. (They don't kick you our or anything after your time is up, it just means that anything you order after that time will cost extra)

Jill, Midori, Max and I. (Conveniently for me, my gigantic screwdriver has obscured my goofy smile. Jillian, however, has unfortunately fallen victim to Japanese red-eye. Luckily, the cure is only ju-yen at the local conbini)

So, New Year's was fun! It also, however, reminded me that my time in Japan was short. In only four more days, I was supposed to board a plane bound for San Fransisco. Stuff happens, though, and then after that, like, other stuff happens.

Next time - Kaori and Kazue, and the return to Kansai!

Takachiho

2008-01-24T08:38:00.000-08:00

Oh! Something I wanted to mention before - Jillian's dad, Harry, taught me that Blogger actually shrinks my pictures itself, so I don't really have to make them so small. However, if you want to see a larger image, you can just click the picture and it'll open it up into a larger window. Cool!

A cloudy day in Takachiho

Takachiho, about a four-hour drive from Miyazaki, is probably most famous for its gorge. While not the size of the Grand Canyon or anything like that, it's still really beautiful. (Jillian has visited Takachiho once before. You can read about her first visit here, if you like)

Takachiho Gorge, as seen from above

Satomi, Jillian's tutor, and Yuuki, Satomi's boyfriend, were kind enough to make the long drive with Jill and I as passengers to visit Takachiho gorge, and the surrounding area. The water at the gorge was so amazingly clear, and the rock formations were really interesting, too. Not too many people were out that day, since it was a bit cool and rainy, but this worked to our advantage since we were able to view the area without having to deal with crowds or lines.

Satomi and Yuuki

Something kind of interesting about Yuuki, Satomi's boyfriend, is that he speaks with a really strong Miyazaki-ben. Although my listening comprehension skills are far from flawless, I can usually catch at least a gist of what people are talking about, but between Satomi and Yuuki, I was having often getting really confused. I'm not really sure how to explain a ben exactly, but I guess it's kind of in between a dialect in the Philippines and a strong New York, Midwestern, or Southern accent in the states. In Japanese classes in America, we're usually initially taught a polite, standard form, which is typically how Japanese is spoken in the Kanto area, or the area around Tokyo and Yokohama. Different areas have different bens, so the Kansai region, (Kobe, Osaka, Kyoto, etc.) and Miyazaki prefecture have their own bens as well. Jillian told me that sometimes Satomi would say that she couldn't understand her boyfriend either, since his accent was so strong. It's not exactly like the differences between accents between British English and American English, so to speak, but probably a lot more complicated. In any case, both Satomi and her boyfriend are really fun and kind, so even I usually can't understand Yuuki, he's a really nice guy in my books!

Because it was so cold and rainy, Jill and I actually had the opportunity to take a little rowboat into the Takachiho gorge while nobody else was in there. Because I wanted to take pictures, (and because Jill likes to row) Jill did all the hard work while I just had to focus on keeping the camera still in the rocking boat.

Takachiho Gorge, as seen from within

After visiting the gorge, Satomi and Yuuki took Jill and I to a few mountain shrines around the area, including Ama no Iwato cave that I'd really wanted to visit, but didn't know we'd planned to go to on this trip. Although I'd really wanted to see this cave, I didn't know exactly where it was. I knew that it was somewhere on Kyushu island, but hadn't really taken the time to figure out how to get there. At one of the shrines we went to Takachiho-Jingu, you can sometimes view a Kagura dance, but they weren't performing on the day we went. (Jill's first Takachiho Visit post has more details about Kagura here) At this shrine, we were given a tour in Japanese that was difficult to understand, but Jill and I were given a summary written in English to simplify things for us.

Jill and I at the Takachiho-Jingu (Shrine)

According the Japanese legend, Amaterasu, the southern sun goddess, hid in a cave after she was upset by her brother, Susanoo, the northern wind god the who was always up to one awful thing or another. Because Amaterasu had hidden, the world was plunged into darkness, until she was eventually lured out Uzumeno, another goddess who performed a wild, fantastic dance to get Amaterasu to bring the world into light again.

Ama no Iwato Cave Shrine, from the Outside

Because of this legend, there's a small shrine built within the cave, and surrounding the cave are thousand of little stacks of stones that people build to embody their wishes. It's sort of a hike down into another gorge to get there, but it's totally worth it to see all of the little wishes that so many people have left behind. Unfortunately, these pictures aren't too clear since I was shivering as it was pretty cold that day, but you can kinda see some of the little stone piles in the picture below. These are only a small fraction of how many are in the surrounding area near the shrine, though.

Amo no Iwato Cave, from the inside

Despite not having the developed, architectural appeal of a other shrines or chapels I've been to, this particular shrine definitely put me in a state of much more powerful spiritual awe. Just knowing that so many people had come here throughout history and experienced the same kind of hope and joy really blew me away, and the simple, natural beauty of the area is extraordinarily breathtaking. For me, to leave a place like this in its natural state and still have it be so powerful was really moving, and I'll never forget how in tune with things and at peace I felt there. Satomi, Yuuki, Jillian and I all made little wish rock-stacks before moving on.

A house we passed by on our way back from Takachiho

On our way back to Miyazaki, we also stopped to see from Christmas lights along the way. While Christmas isn't as major of a holiday here as it is in the states, some people still decorate their homes like this for the season, and most cities have some kind of light display. (Though not all as amazing as Kobe's Luminaria) Miyazaki also had a big light display, but Jill and I never managed to go see it.

I'll talk a bit more about the holiday season later, since it's kind of a complicated subject. For now I'll kind of wrap up by saying that the drive home was a peaceful one, (Jill and I napped while Yuuki and Satomi switched off driving) and we had a tasty, tasty meal at this great Okonomiyaki place called Tape (Tah-Pay) on the way home. Okonomiyaki is a kind of mixed batter-cake with a selection of ingredients fried into it. Some things you can choose from include various kinds of seafood, vegetables, noodles and meat. Jillian and I each got one with udon and cheese. It was pretty much amazing. Okonomiyaki is easily one of my favorite Japanese foods.

Tape's Udon mo Chi-zu Okonomiyaki

The trip to Takachiho was amazing, and I'm really grateful to Satomi and Yuuki for taking Jill and I there. It was neat to visit a mountain-town that was even more remote than the area around the college, and even the drive there was spectacularly scenic. On the way, we'd actually passed through a tunnel called the "Totoro Tunnel." I tried to take a picture of the sign, but I couldn't get my camera out fast enough.

Next time - Christmas and New Year's in Japan!

Continued - from Kansai to Miyazaki

2008-01-24T07:25:00.000-08:00

Okay, so... the ferry trip was definitely a fun, new experience. It was nothing compared to the shock of coming to Miyazaki, though. What I'd known about the place is that it's a predominantly agricultural prefecture, and that it's got a sort of sub-tropical climate, being on Kyushu Island. (Putting it at about the same latitude as Miami, Florida) Charlie and Jillian had both insisted that I'd love it here, but couldn't really seem to fully explain why. Jill said that the people were nicer here in Miyazaki, but since I'd only experienced Kansai so far, I wouldn't have a basis for comparison until I actually got here.

A view of some fields across the street from Miyazaki University (Or Miyadai, for short)

One of the biggest differences about Miyazaki is the amount of space here. While houses are still fairly close together, things are nowhere near as crammed as they were in the major cities of the Kansai region. Unfortunately, this also means that transportation isn't quite as convenient. Where in Kobe you could catch the subway every five minutes by going underground to a stop a hop, skip, and a jump away from where you were staying, Miyazaki's trains come about once every hour, and the closest train station to Miyazaki University is about a half hour walk away. (Maybe two miles or so)

Because of this, a lot of students have bicycles. Because driver's licenses are pretty expensive here, and also because the tests are pretty hard, those who can afford them purchase motor-scooters if the distance is too far for bicycles, or just 'cause riding a Vespa-look-alike around town is way classier than having a bike.

A Bicycle Parking lot near the Minami Miyazaki (South Miyazaki) Train Station

Miyazaki isn't as super-rural as I was led to believe it was, though. Miyazaki City itself is probably comparable to the Olympia-Lacey area in size, I'd say, with about as many people and the same-ish amount of stuff going on. Miyazaki, like Olympia, is also a port town, but with nowhere near the same kind of activity as Seattle or Kobe. Miyazaki does have a sports center where teams comes to practice before the official season starts, but aside from that, their biggest attraction seems to be their famous governor, who used to be part of a comedy troupe of some sort.

The Giants Team Store, in Miyazaki Proper

Sonomanma Higashi, the current governor of Miyazaki Prefecture

Although he's only been the governor of Miyazaki prefecture for less than a year, his image is pretty much unavoidable in this area. Where Kobe, Osaka, and Kyoto have omiyage (souvenirs) featuring their famous landmarks and foods, Miyazaki has little key chains of this guy. Supposedly, he's helped to vastly improve Miyazaki's tourist activity, whose biggest claims to fame in the past were it's chickens, mangoes, and hyuganatsu (a kind of yellow, citrusy fruit) In Miyazaki's defense, however, most places we've visited have also had a famous food dish or dessert of some sort, so Miyazaki being famous for it's produce it's super odd. Kobe of course has their Kobe beef, for example. One of Miyazaki's characteristic dishes if Chicken Nanban, which Jillian has also written about and photographed at her blog here.

To my delight, Jillian was definitely right about people being friendlier here. A stereotype I'd often heard about Japan was that I'd have an easier time communicating in the big cities, where the more rural areas would prove to be much more difficult. While more people in the larger cities probably do speak and understand English, part of my being here is also to practice and learn more Japanese. When to communicate with people in Japanese in Kansai, I often felt rushed or hurried, like they would rather I just spoke in English so we could move on already. In Miyazaki, however, people seem to be much more laid back and patient, which I really appreciate. There is also, of course, the occasion where the person I'm speaking to might not know any English at all, so my stumbling along in Japanese becomes necessary. It's a great experience, though!

I think that the area being less crowded in Miyazaki also contributes to there being less stress here as well. Kibana, the suburb-like area where the University is, has few businesses aside from the Kurashikan, (who has the grocery monopoly in the area) Gespa (for Pachinko, Slots, Billiards, and other gaming) and the post office. Interestingly enough, the post office in Japan isn't just for mail, but also usually has an ATM machine. You can also pay some of your bills at the post office, so it's a really nice one-stop kind of place. There's also a 7-11 across the street from the college, as well as a video store nearby.

The neighborhood around the Kibana-Eki (Kibana Train Station)

In a lot of ways, coming to Miyazaki was a huge relief. Not only was there now a place where I could settle for a little while, but the environment was just so much more hospitable as well. No more rushing around, fighting to a seat on the train, only to be squeezed in like a sardine once it started to get really full. The air here was so much clearer than Osaka's, and I was no longer subject to the sensory overload of colors, light and sound that was typical on nearly every Osaka street. Also, having a place to finally put my luggage down for more than just a few days was also really nice. Unfortunately, I'd made the beginner's mistake of over-packing a bit, and I'd even brought an extra suitcase full of holiday gifts from our respective families for Jillian and her friends. Lugging around my three and Jillian's two suitcases all over Kansai had been exhausting, let alone having to worry about where to put them once we got onto the already over-stuffed public transportation we were using.

There's plenty of testaments about how "chill" Miyazaki is that you can find just walking around. One of the biggest shocks to me was the produce stands on the road like this one:

A vegetable stand across the street from the college

This little shop, which sells things like home-grown carrots, lettuce, and flowers, sells batches and clusters for about hyaku-en (100 yen, a little less than $1) a piece. The odd part is that the only time anyone is ever personing the stand is early in the morning, to stock it, and at sundown, to close it up. Essentially, you're just suppose to take what you want, and leave the money in a little jar near the entrance. It's not even a lock-box or anything like that, just an ordinary glass jar without a lid. If anyone wanted to, they could easily just walk in, take some stuff, (including all of the money) and walk out again, but people are so trusting here that that doesn't seem to be a problem at all) This isn't the only stand like it, either! There's one further down the road that sells tomatoes and oranges, and another on the other side of the school that sells some kind of radish, I think.

One of the things in Miyazaki I could definitely do without are the bugs. Luckily for me, the biggest and worst of them are currently hibernating since it's winter, but even now, Miyazaki has some of the biggest bugs I've ever seen. Sadly, (for you, not me) I haven't gotten close enough to take a really good picture of any yet, but outside there's some really big weaver spiders that make strange haphazard kind of webs, and inside the dorms, (shudder) there's cockroaches. I've never really been exposed to them before, but in Jillian's dorm, they're just a fact of life, I guess. Nobody seems terribly concerned about them, but I worry every time we use the kitchen that they're hiding somewhere close to our food, just waiting to pop out and visit. Another thing that bothers me here is the lack of ovens. Coming here, I'd hoped to cook some American-style dishes for Jill and her friends, but sadly there isn't an oven here, and most of the recipes I know or brought with me require one. It's not too huge of a loss, though, since some of the ingredients I would have wanted or needed are either absent or difficult to find, although there's usually a Japanese alternative that works nearly as well.

As close as I was comfortable getting to a spider here. (Their leg-span is roughly the side of your palm, excluding your fingers - If you're going to click on a picture, click on this one. It's scary up close!)

But! That's enough griping for now. There's plenty of time for that later! I'm still trying to catch up to how I wound up staying here for extra time, so I'll wrap this one up for now. Next time, Takachiho, and the visit with Satomi, Jillian's tutor, and Satomi's boyfriend, Yuuki. 'till next time!

The First Departure

2008-01-22T23:17:00.001-08:00

So, here I am, still in Japan. I'm certainly not unhappy about it, but I am still a little bewildered about how it all came to be! Here's the "prequel" story about how the extension came to be:

I came to Japan to visit my girlfriend, Jillian, over both of our winter breaks. Her parents were originally going to buy Jillian a ticket to return to the states for the holidays, but decided to offer the ticket to me instead. Their thought was that it would probably be a once in a lifetime opportunity for Jillian to stay in Japan and experience Christmas and New Year's here, but didn't want her to be alone either. (Not that Jillian is ever truly alone, of course. She's got Shiva, her kitten, and her family is always and Skype-call away, despite the time difference, and since she makes friends so easily, there's always someone around to keep her company!)

The trip was planned for roughly three weeks. I flew here about a week after the end of fall quarter at Evergreen, and had planned to stay until January fifth, so that I would have a few days to recover before classes started up again for winter quarter.

During the first week our adventures were pretty rigorous. Jillian's friend, Midori, who has been friends with many of the Evergreen students who have come and gone through the years at Miyazaki University, did us the huge favor of helping Jill plan the Osaka trip for us. We stayed at a marvelous, yet inexpensive hotel in the Shinsaibashi shopping district of Osaka.

Shinsaibashi Shopping District - Near our hotel in Osaka

With the help of our friend Charlie, another Evergreen student who is currently studying in Kobe, we also explored Kobe and Kyoto, since Charlie was pretty familiar with how to get around and where the best touristy sites were. He was also so kind as to let us crash at his place for a few nights while we visited Kobe! We also went to Himeji Castle, which was easy to get to, because Jillian had been there before last summer when she studied in Toyoka.

Himeji-jo, or Himeji Castle, in Himeji

In Kobe we went to places like the Kobe Tower, Sannomiya Shopping Street, the Kobe City Holiday Luminaria, and Rokko Mountain Herb Garden Ropeway. (Rokko Mountain was on the return trip to Kansai, however)

Jill, Charlie and I at the Luminaria in Kobe

Inside the Luminaria

Jill and I didn't realize what a huge deal the Luminaria was, thinking that it was just some Christmas lights downtown. In actuality, it was this HUGE light display that covered an entire park, with tons of lights that were all over structures up and down the street. There were so many people that they literally kind of had to herd people into the streets, which had been converted into a gigantic Disney-land style queue system. It was coordinated by an enormous number of police officers from what we could tell, so that traffic wouldn't be a huge nightmare. From the point where you could essentially start "lining up" to see this thing, you would walk around town for (I'm not even kidding) something like ninety minutes before you could even see the outside of the structure. Once you got there, everyone had their cameras and cell phones out to snap pictures, and there was a neat little festival near the park where you could get all kinds of tasty festival foods. We tried takoyaki, or fried octopus balls, an-taiyaki, a fish-shaped pastry with red beans inside, and these little eggy chick-shaped things that I can't remember the name of. It was really fun, but also really cold out and super crowded!

In Kyoto, we saw the Kinkakuji Temple, or "Golden Pavilion" that I had learned about in my fall quarter class, as well as a huge red archway over the street near the Heian Temple. Kyoto, despite being built in a chess-board fashion as it was modeled after the Chinese Imperial Capital when it was founded back in 794 A.D., (Abunai! History-Nerd plug!) is surprisingly difficult to navigate. We actually got a little lost later in the evening, but were lucky enough to be approached by a nice lady who could tell that we were obviously pretty lost. At the Kinkakuji Temple, a Japanese college student spotted us and took us on an impromptu tour, where she pointed out various statues and structures and explained their uses and history to us. Since we'd gotten lost and spent more time than we planned to in Kyoto, I think we were all a little cranky and hungry by the time we left, but in retrospect, it's a really beautiful place, and full of super nice people, too!

Kinkakuji Shrine, or "Golden Pavilion" in Kyoto

After our adventures in Kansai, we took the ferry back to Miyazaki from Osaka, which was an amazing experience in itself. The ferry is an overnight trip, and if you buy first-class tickets, you can get a little private room with a bed all to yourself if you want. They're pretty pricey, though, so Jill went ahead and used her student discount to get us second class tickets, which allow you to sleep in the public sleeping area.

The sleeping space in the ferry

There's also a special section reserved for women who are traveling apart from men on the ferry, which Jillian slept in on her trip to pick me up in Osaka. When we first boarded, the lady who led us on board tried to direct us into the aforementioned section, but Jillian saved me some embarrassment by explaining that didn't actually belong in that section, and that she'd be sticking with me. Whoops...

The ferry also had a cute, (but expensive) little restaurant in it, as well as an onsen or public bath. I'd never tried one before, so I was pretty nervous and shy about trying it at first, but since I felt like I really needed a bath after a long day of traveling, I thought I'd try it out. Surprisingly, I was really comfortable using it, and although I got a few awkward glances at first, (I suspect because of my long hair) I realized that nobody really pays attention to each other in the onsen, unless you're friends or something and are chatting with people already know. (As far as I could tell, at least)

Alrighties, I'm now realizing that this post is going to be much, much longer than initially anticipated, so I'll save the Miyazaki section for week 2 and 3 for later. Next time: Miyazaki University, Takachiho, and the return to Kansai... bye for now!