Of Christmas & New Years Part II

Well, it's that's time again. The time when I keep my promise and write part II of my adventures over the holidays. Because I'm supposed to be studying for a test, writing essays, and preparing for exams, and instead I'm procrastinating with this blog, you all should feel very special. No worries, don't feel guilty. Just special. I'm enjoying the procrastination as much as you are.

December 31st, also known as New Year's Eve, is a pretty relaxed day in Japan. People continue to make their New Year's foods, osechi-ryouri (おせち料理), but these are just the final preparations. Once the clock hits about 8 or so, the real fun begins. I can only really describe it as in the States during the Macy's Day Parade on on New Year's when we sometimes have singers as they count down to the New Year, there's that sort of thing here. Put on by NHK, top singers from around the country are invited. Depending on their gender, they are put into either the red (female) or white (male) team. They then compete with their top song of the year, and people vote for one or the other at the end. The event, which is called Kouhaku (紅白), goes on until 11:45. Almost everyone watches it, and although there are times when you're sleepy, I admit that it is pretty fun.

At 11:45, all programs switch to the New Year's celebrations, which means that they go to temples and such. At midnight, bells around the city can be heard. These bells, which will be rung 108 times to signify the 108 earthly temptations/desires that one must overcome in order to reach nirvana (enlightenment) in Buddhism. It's tradition at this time to all get back in normal clothes, and trek to the neighborhood shrine. Once there, you make an offering and a wish/prayer for the new year. (At this point, I was the only foreigner in the temple, so it was a little interesting.) After this, a nice gentleman walks up and hands you amazake (甘酒), literally "sweet sake/rice wine." It's called sweet for a reason, and I don't recommend drinking a lot of it, but somehow I seem to have had 3 to 4 glasses of it that night. Luckily, it's not very strong, so there were no bad effects. Amazake is only drunk at the New Year though, so families will make their own, and you end up drinking a ton of the stuff. When you're done drinking amazake, or maybe while you're drinking amazake, you eat soba (おそば), which is a type of thin noodle. On New Year's Day though, it's called toshikoshisoba (年越しそば), literally "End of the Year Soba."

The next day, you wake up and deliver a round of "Happy New Year!" (明けましたおめでとうございます) to everyone you meet. You partake in a little bit of sake, literally a drop, giving thanks and welcoming the New Year. At this point, we went to another shrine and took some arrows with us. Used to ban evil from the household, you throw these away and get new ones for the new year. We also got omikuji (おみくじ), which is a sort of fortune. They can either be good or bad. If they're good, you take them home with you. If they're bad, you tie them to a tree or rope and leave them there so you won't bring the bad luck home with you.

After we returned home, we finished preparations and then ate dinner with the extended family. It was a great night, and I seem to remember more amazake, sake, whiskey, wine, and beer being passed around. Otoshidama (お年玉) was also given, which translates as a New Year's monetary gift that you give children.

In the next few days, we went to Kawasaki Daishi (川崎大師), a really famous temple. We ate dinner off the street vendors there, and I got to have my favorite baby castella (べービーカステル) for dessert. Taisuke bought them for me, and I got an entire bag for only 500 yen! It was the best 500 yen a person has ever spent. I don't need nice things, just baby castella for the rest of my life. Unfortunately, I was pretty stuffed at this point, so I ate a few and put the rest inside my jacket for future snacking. Some people hide keys or rings or useful things in their breasts. I hide baby castella. Every five minutes, I'd unzip my coat, take them out, and eat one. Then, I'd put them back where they'd be nice and warm. I got some strange looks from the Japanese people around me, but it was worth it. They just didn't understand my joy.

Finally, we went to the Rice Bowl, which is the biggest football event in Japan. The top university team plays against the top company team. The company teams are basically the Japanese equivalent of the NFL. This year it was Ritsumeikan Panthers against the Obic Seagulls. The Seagulls won, but it was still a lot of fun.

We also went to DisneySea, which is the only DisneySea in the world. It's owned by a Japanese company actually, and everything is centered around the volcano in the middle. It's not so much focused on the rides as it is the scenery, so we had a great time.

I should probably get back to studying, so I'll update again another time.

Michelle

金閣寺と龍安寺(Kinkakuji and Ryouanji)

So I know I just posted, but I couldn't help it. I figured I should post up a few pictures of my trip to 金閣寺(Kinkakuji) and 龍安寺(Ryouanji). First though, a little background info. Kinkakuji is the common name for the temple. It translates roughly as the Temple of the Golden Pavilion, but the proper name is Rokuonji. In the 1220's, it was actually the villa of Kintsune Saionji, which honestly, I'd love to have a villa like this. It's beautiful. There's a huge walk-through garden, and an amazing pond. Anyway, to keep things short, basically we have a former shogun who decided to build the place, and upon his death, it was made into a Zen temple. There are 3 styles to the temple. The first floor is done in the palace style, the second in style of the samurai house, and the third in the Zen temple style. The second and third styles are all done in gold leaf.

Ryouanji is most famous for its Zen rock garden. This garden contains only rocks and white gravel, which is swirled into different patterns. It's oddly breath-taking, and I could easily sit for hours just looking at it. It was created around 1500 or so. Ryouanji also has a huge pond which is called Kyoyuchi Pond. It was known for having many mandarin ducks. When we went though, we actually saw a crane in the middle. It was beautiful.

So, with that basis, let's continue. We biked to Kinkakuji, which was about a 45 minute bike ride from the dorm. When we got there, it was in the heat of the day, so we took a quick break for some green tea ice cream and some water. There were a lot of vending machines around, and honestly, I think that any person reading this blog should see them. Vending machines here are pretty cool. They have everything from tea to coffee to soda to water. You can buy cans, or bottles, or individually filled cups. They also sell cigarettes and alcohol, though you need to be able to prove your age for those. No worries for the younger generation there! Here you see pictures of the row of vending machines and an instant ramen vending machine.

Next, you can see the reason why I'm having such a hard time finding my way around Kyoto. Kyoto is difficult in a way. Tokyo has identifiable places on every corner. Kyoto is full of green space, so you can get lost easily. There's also a lot of hills, so you can't see ahead of you. And for this reason, my sense of direction is absolutely gone.

I also decided to include my ticket to Kinkakuji. I thought it looked kind of cool.

And now for the moment you've been waiting for, your view of Kinkakuji itself. Note how beautiful it is. The lake is a greenish color, but you can see the temple perfectly beneath it, which is the reason it is often called Mirror Lake.

And now for some foreign absurdity. I believe these were a group of businessmen being shown around by their Japanese guide on one of their off-days. They decided they wanted to make a temple. They explained it to their guide about 10 times, but he really wasn't getting it. Being a good sport though, he tried to do what they wanted.

I believe these are Buddhas. People tried to throw coins into the bowl in the middle. Although we didn't completely understand, we believed that they figured it was good luck.

At the end of Kinkakuji is the temple to the God of Fire. Individuals swing large ropes in order to strike the gong. Although there as nothing preventing us from doing so, most of us did not engage in this practice. It just didn't feel right for us to participate in something that we had no part in. You see the picture of that temple and the incense below.

Finally, the last place at Kinkakuji was this rope with pieces of paper tied to it. These are fortunes. If the fortune is good, you take it with you. If it is bad, you tie it to the rope and leave it here.

Finally, we move on to Ryouanji. I apologize for the lengthiness of this post, but there's a lot to say. The first picture is describing the history of Ryouanji. The second and third pictures are actually the Zen rock garden itself. This is the reason why Ryouanji is so famous. It is so peaceful here, and it really gives you time to think. Although my camera died during this session, Ryouanji is located right outside the gates of Ritsumeikan, so I'll be able to visit it again in the future. Maybe after class or something.

Finally, if you look inside, you'll see all of the painted walls. They're absolutely beautiful in their intricate details. Past the rock garden and around all of the other walls is this moss. It's absolutely surreal.

And so that concludes this post. I'm off to bed.

Michelle

Of Kyoto and Temples

I arrived in Kyoto yesterday, and let me just say that it's been a blast. Kyoto is one of the most beautiful cities I've ever visited. Unlike a lot of big cities, there is green everywhere. And even though you know it's a big city, it feels a lot smaller due to this. Don't get me wrong. I loved Tokyo, a lot. It's a really great place, but I think some of the other large cities like Tokyo, Chicago, and New York could take a page from Kyoto and add a little more green space to their city.

Actually, arriving here was a little interesting. I left Tokyo, which I didn't really want to leave and boarded the Shinkansen for here. The conductor talked very quietly. When I could hear him, I could understand him no problem, but if he was too quiet, then I had no idea what station we were at. So actually, I tried to get off a station early, but there was no way to exit the train. So I waited another 20 minutes or so, and finally got off.

When I finally got off, I went searching for a taxi, which wasn't that hard considering all of the signs. It was a little far, but these stations are huge in Japan. They make our big airports like Chicago O'Hare look small. I've never been to Grand Central Station in New York, but I think it could probably fit easily inside some of these train station and have some extra room. Anyway, so I finally got here, found a taxi and got in. I handed the taxi driver my address, but he couldn't find it in his GPS. So he pulled out a map, but he couldn't find it on the map. So I searched for a phone number, and after about 20 minutes, I found one. He called the dorm, and after some very polite どうもすみません-ing, we headed off. In this context, it comes across as both I'm very sorry and Thank you. Really, it's a little difficult to translate, but I think it'd come closest to, "I'm very sorry to have troubled you on my behalf. Thank you for everything you have done for me."

The taxi driver and I struck up a great conversation, which is really strange considering the fact that normally you never talk with the taxi driver here. He acted as my guide, pointing out historic sites, and telling stories of the mountains, movies, and McDonald's. All McDonald's here are required to be brown. The city didn't want them to stand out and look ugly compared to the rest of Kyoto. Actually, I saw some brown, and quite a few black McDonald's in Tokyo, but it's interesting that it's a law here. If you were wondering, apparently KFC doesn't have the same requirements. Their buildings are a blinding red. Anyway, after that, we talked about movies. He really liked American movies, especially Arnold Swarzenegger ones. Overall it was a great taxi ride, and we finally arrived at my dorm safe and sound.

That day, I filled out some paperwork, unpacked, and met people in the dorm. I explored the main street of our area of Kyoto that night, and we found supermarkets, convenience stores, ramen shops, and bakeries. It was a good experience and it helped me to get adjusted a little bit.

Today, I woke up late unfortunately. I thought our meeting was at 9:30, but it ended up it was at 9. I had just woken up and sadly I had to go before I'd done more than the basic hygiene sort of stuff. I met three of our student buddies. They took us by train to Ritsumeikan to fill out paperwork for the Alien Registration Card and for Japanese Health Insurance. It will be two weeks before all of that is done. Personally, this seems little a counter-productive. Japan is trying so hard to attract foreigners as it increases its presence in the global economy, but it makes it very difficult for people to be here.

The buddies were very helpful and a lot of fun though. We talked mostly in Japanese, though there was some English every now and then. They want to practice their English as well of course.

After we headed to Rits, we went to the ward to go turn in the paperwork and to get some of it processed. Until all of this is done though, it's a little difficult to get a phone. Oddly enough, I ended up translating at the ward. One of the girls here was having difficult with Japanese, and she knows English much better. Unfortunately, she was talking to a government official who really didn't know English. So, I was asked by one of the buddies to go help her. It ended up that the official was confused because her hometown and the hospital that it stated where she was born were different. After listening to her, I did my best to explain to the official and to the buddy standing next to me. Then, he clarified just a couple things for her. I was really proud. Right now, I still feel that my Japanese is miserable, so it was nice to know that I'd been understood and that the official knew what I was talking about from my explanation.

Finally, after that, I made another trip to the supermarket, which I visit every day. Ingredients are fresher this way, and I'm just starting to get used to. Then, I headed off with a bunch of other people from the dorm to go tour temples. There are tons of them here, and it's only right to go visit them. We went by bike, which was something of an adventure because I'm pretty much the only one in the group whose biking skills are probably at that of a 5-year-olds.

First we headed to 退蔵院 (Taizou-in). We didn't enter the gardens at the time since we really didn't have much cash on us, but it was still a lot of fun. This temple is very famous for a painting called 紙本墨画淡彩瓢鮎図 (Catching Catfish with a Gourd) which is now in the Kyoto museum, and as a very old Zen Buddhist temple. It was rebuilt, but it is still very beautiful, so I thought you'd enjoy a few photos. If you still want more information, you can check the temple's link here: Taizou-in.

There were a lot of other temples around the area as well, so we visited them as well. The images below were on the same path, but they're from different temples.

As always, there's more to tell you, but I think I'll end this post here. It's getting a little long, and some things can wait until later to tell you. I'm planning to head to 金閣寺(Kinkakuji) tomorrow, which is known as the Golden Temple. Pictures will be up soon of that if that's the case.

The placement test is on Tuesday, so right now, I have to head off.

Later!

Michelle