A hot walk

This past week was a busy one. I have quite a bit of homework from my regular classes now and next week we finally start kanji classes and my extra online classes. I had my first private lesson on Friday. I will have two a week with two different teachers. It was fun. Matsuyama Sensei is married with three children ages 21, 19 and 17. We talked about why I wanted to study Japanese, our birthdays, ages and where and when I studied Japanese before. I had fun trying to tell her about my daughters. I learned the words for married and engaged! The private lessons are to help with conversation and to reinforce the lessons we are doing in the book, Mina no nihon go, which means Everyone’s Japanese.

Having said all that, I still had time to go exploring this weekend with a couple of students I’ve met who are from Hong Kong. Originally Catherine and I had planned to just go to the near-by Minami Park on bikes, but when I arrived at her residence, (she lives in the women-only residence run by the charming couple who had me to a soba dinner a week or so ago), I found that another student was joining us and the plan had changed. Winnie wanted to get out into the country and had read about a river where people fish from a weir and had worked out how to get there, or so she thought. The new plan involved taking two trains, and a bus to get to the spot on a river in the suburbs (I use that word loosely), quite a distance from the center of town but still in Okazaki city limits. Just getting on the right train is challenging for me so I was glad to be going with someone. I look at the train schedule and have trouble identifying where I am, let along where I want to go, but the other two speak Chinese and recognize the kanji pretty well, even if they don’t know how it is pronounced in Japanese. It was another scorching hot day and it was about noon when we got going. The trains came pretty quickly and we switched without trouble, but arriving where we were to get the bus, we discovered that the one that went to our destination would not be coming again for another couple of hours!

What to do??? We took a little walk in the area around the station but didn’t find even a convenience store. We settle for a snack from the stand in the station and where trying to stay cool when a bus showed up at the stop. It was an hour earlier, but our hopes were raised that we had misread the schedule. However, on talking with the bus driver as best as we could, we learned that he did not go to our destination on this trip, but stopped about 5 or 6 stops before it, on the next round he would go all the way to the end of the line. We decided to take this bus anyway, rather than wait in the station with nothing to do for another hour. Soon we were driving past rice fields and vegetable gardens. Mountains appeared and a stream could be seen. It was fun to be out in the country again, seeing such rural life so close to the big city, but before we knew it the bus had come to the end of its line. The driver, who was very nice and tried to be so helpful, told us we could wait, still about an hour, or we could start walking, thought it was a bit hot. We opted for walking since he had said (or at least we thought he did) that is was maybe 20 or 30 minutes to our destination on foot. We walked and walked and passed several bus stops but were still not there.

After 45 minutes in the blazing sun, we came to another bus stop and gave up walking to wait for the bus. It was about at this time that we began wondering with we had made a BIG mistake. There was not a store or a gas station in sight and no way to cool off. Thank goodness I carry my umbrella with me always and use it in the sun like the Japanese do, or I would have been cooked to crisp. After ten minutes at the bus stop the same driver came by and picked us up! We sighed with relief as we sank into seats in the air-conditioned bus, but our destination was only about 10 minutes away by bus and soon we were looking at our hard earned goal. (On getting out the driver wouldn’t let us pay! He said he had only taken us a short way and we had paid a fair that would have taken us further before, had he been going further. I think he was just being kind to these hot and sweaty foreigners who clearly did not know what they were doing!) There was the Otogawa Weir. Was this really a must see? Where are the people? Where are the fish? What had looked like a lively, fun filled water activity was a low key, take the kids for a picnic and play in the water, try-to-catch-little-fish-with-your-hands kind of an event AND it was nearly closing time! We took off our shoes and cooled off, took a few pictures and it was time to catch the bus back or wait another 2 or 3 hours!

This was a bit of a lesson in figuring out how to get to places and the need to know more about the destination and the schedule of buses. This was clearly a place people with cars went to with their kids on weekends, and perhaps at the right time of year there are lots of fish and activity. All things we didn’t know. I was a bit disappointed with how much all the transportation had cost for so little reward, but it was an adventure into the unknown and that, in itself, is a worthwhile activity.

Today I studied in the morning and at noon headed out by myself on a more modest adventure. I had borrowed a bike and was going to find Minami Park. I knew roughly where it was, but finding the entrance was a bit more challenging and riding a bike, especially these Chinese bikes that everyone rides here, with squeaky handbrakes and heavy frames, was downright scary! I have to say I felt proud to get there and back without killing anyone or being run over! I only dared attempt it because on Sundays there aren’t a million school kids whizzing by on bikes, as there is during the week. A bike is definitely the way to go around here, though. It takes a quarter of the time it would walking and you can put stuff in the basket on front or on back. I took only main roads where there is a bike lane in the sidewalk. I’m going to get my one
soon!

The park had a big pond with, lots of turtles, fish and birds. There was an outdoor swimming pool and tennis courts. The “pu-ru” cost only 60 yen for adults and 40 for kids, that is about 60 and 40 cents. There was a mini amusement park for young kids mostly, but at night older ones might go. A big Ferris wheel was slowly spinning a hundred feet above the trees.

(Pictures above are: the long hot road to nowhere, a very hot Marsha and bus schedule, the Minami Park and bike) Ja mata.

Tour to Gifu

“ "Today we head deep into Gifu, but not before making a quick visit to the famous/infamous Tagata Jinja and Oagata Jinja near Komaki in Aichi. From here we head to Hirugano Kohgen, popular for its scenery (and ice creams). Our main destination today is the Shirakawa-go area. We will spend the rest of the day in the World Heritage listed village of Ogimachi, enjoying the atmosphere of the thatched roofs, and interesting attractions such as the Wada House and the Myozenji Museum.”

This was the tour description and, except for being stuck in several hours of traffic, this is what we did, although I missed the ice cream. The group consisted of 8 students from Yamasa and Declan Murphy, who runs the discovery programs and tours that Yamasa offers. We got to the first shrine, Oagata-jinja, at about 9:30 a.m. and had it almost entirely to ourselves. This shrine was dedicated to Izanami, the female Shinto deity, and Declan explained that it was the custom to come here to pray when you wish to conceive and when you were pregnant for a safe birth. While we were there a young couple came to pray and clap and give thanks. The wife was clearly a few months pregnant. She rubbed her belly as she was descending the stairs. Some one told me “Buddhism is dead in Japan”, I don’t know about that, but Shinto certainly doesn’t seem to be. We visited another fertility shrine not far away, Tagata-Jinja, and here the symbol was male genitalia and large wooden replicas could be found in the rear part of the shrine. Each year at the time of the festival in March, the matsuri, this large phallus is carried through the streets. Despite the ribald display, the feeling of the place is one of thanks for the birth of a healthy baby. While we were there, several families came, paid their respects and posed for photos with tiny babies held in regal looking yukatas by the parents and grandparents.

After these two short visits we headed North toward Gifu Prefecture, taking the super high way. As we began to climb into the mountains the road went through countless (actually one of the other students counted 19) tunnels of varying lengths. One was about 20 kilometers long. Below the highway, we could see little towns tucked between steep mountain slopes, straddling rivers of clear sparkling water dotted with white rapids. Fishermen with very long poles could be seen on the banks. As we got deeper into the Japanese Alps the mountains were entirely covered with tall dark evergreens and other types of trees that seem to cling to almost vertical slopes.

Unfortunately, it was the weekend of a National holiday and the road was packed with cars and motorcycles. It took us almost twice as long to get there as Declan had planned. Consequently we only had a couple of hours to visit the main attraction, which was absolutely spectacular. The entire village is an open-air museum, many buildings carefully maintained and open for visiting. There were all sorts of little shops selling crafts, sweets and local specialties. The green you see in the pictures is mostly from the rice paddies that filled almost all the open spaces. Beside most of the big houses were ponds with koi swimming around.

I loved the place and want to go back when I have more time and can take it all in at a more leisurely pace.I’ve posted a couple of pictures here of Ogimachi, the village of gassho-zukuri (hands in prayer architectural style) houses that date back to the Edo period, 1700’s or early 1800’s (?) and one of Oagata-jinja.

Oh, yeah! I want to thank all of you who have read and made comments. It's great fun to read them and know that you are enjoying the blog. It's sometimes a little humbling. Don't know if I can live up to all the expectations. ;-)

Photos

I've set up a Picasa Web Album of photos that are too numerous for the blog, but might be of interest to some of you. This should be the link, but right now I'm still in the exspiramental stage.

Gamagori

This weekend I will be going on an excursion run by Yamasa. It is to a world heritage site in Gifu, the open air museum town of Ogimachi. I have seen pictures of this place and am very excited to be going there. I'll report in full. School is keeping me busier now but I'm still waking very early so I have a little time in the mornings to write. It has become cicada season. There is now a sound track of buzzes and hums that comes and goes. Cicadas go flying by as I walk to school and I've seen several brown discarded skins of the emerging cicada, do you say pupating?

Okazaki Castle

Sunday, July 13, 2008
Okazaki City, Japan

Yesterday morning I hooked up with the Texas Three, as I’ve come to think of the little group of friends consisting of Amelia, the Aussie Phd candidate studying at Rice in Houston and Chris and George from Dallas. Chris is very quiet, while George is an amazing social organizer and extreme extrovert whose parents were from Taiwan. He speaks and reads Chinese fluently. Amelia is fluent in Japanese. She studied it in Australia and did a home stay here while in high school, then majored in it at college and is now here to improve her kanji reading skills. These three are super traveling companions. Together they can pretty much decipher any sign or find out about where, when or how on any topic. I feel really lucky to have “fallen in” with this talented young group.

At about 11:00 am yesterday we headed for Okazaki Jo, the restored feudal castle famous as the birthplace of Iyeyasu and the Tokugawa Shogunate. (Above is picture of a bridge over one of the moats and a view from the top of the castle, see the picture in my first posting for look at the castle). The original castle was demolished during the Meiji Restoration when the feudal clans were abolished in 1873-1875. The current donjon and annex were reconstructed in 1959. The view from the top is impressive. The surrounding park is a wonderful oasis of green shade in a sea of urban cement.

Beside the castle was a Shinto shrine that seemed to be especially important for children. People were posing with their newborn infants in front of the bell rope for pictures. We also saw a car being blessed. The shiny new Prius was standing with all the doors open and the hood lifted as a white robed Shinto priest (or was it a priestess?) intoned the blessings and shook a large paper “rattle”. Out of respect for the solemnity of the occasion we did not take pictures or stare, but would certainly have liked to.

On to way to the castle, we took my first bus ride on a Japanese city bus. The driver was so helpful as we fumbled with the ticket system. He also made sure we got off at the right place. At the front of the bus was a digital display that showed the coming stop as well as the fair at that stop depending on where you had gotten on the bus. Once you got the hang of it, it was a very helpful set up. Thank goodness George was able to figure all that out. For lunch, we shared some sushi from a food court in the basement of a big department store/shopping center. There were so many interesting looking things to eat!

While out on the sidewalk the temperature was in the high 80’s (high 20’s C), the shops were refreshingly cool so we popped into one every few minutes to cool down. On our way back to the train/bus station we investigated the shops selling elaborate home shrines for the ancestors, (some costing millions of yen), a rice cracker shop, a German bakery, a bookstore, a mini market and a gift store. Because giving gifts is such a big part of the culture here, there are shops and sections of shops dedicated to gift items all wrapped up and ready to go. When we went into the gift (omiagi) store at the castle, unlike a western souvenir shop, we had to look hard before finding the post cards!

Today we are going go to Gamagori, a tourist destination and fishing port on the coast, not far from here. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Birds

Okazaki City, Japan

As I’m still not on a normal sleeping schedule, I wake up at about 3:30 or 4:00 each morning. I try to stay in bed as long as possible in an attempt to normalize my sleep patterns, but once I start thinking about all the Japanese I have to learn, it’s time to get up. This morning I was up at about 4:30 and worked on my homework and studying until almost 6:30. Then I decided to take a walk. It’s a beautiful, clear, sunny morning here today and at 6:30 it was not too hot. I took my passport, binoculars and camera and headed out. The passport, I learned two days ago, is a must. It is illegal for me to be without official identification while in Japan (as an alien) and this is all I have that would qualify. I could be fined or thrown out for violating this rule.

At 6:30 there were already a number of people out and about, mostly getting morning exercise, but also sitting around and going to work and school. I took a loop around both the ponds I have become familiar with, each with it’s own character and wild life. I skirted the first, which I call Swan Lake for the two white beauties that seem to live there, and headed for the prettier lake with the shade giving trees and bamboo arching over it’s wide walks. I’ve noticed that unlike a western park pond, there is no bench or sitting place anywhere. These public spaces are designed for walking. Most of the Japanese people, and I only meet Japanese people on these walks, are older, some clearly retired, people doing their daily exercise regime. They seem to be fairly serious about it. They are all going much faster than me, as I stop for bird watching and picture taking and generally gawking at all the new plants and styles of architecture.

This morning, being earlier than usual, gave me the opportunity to see some new and wonderful creatures in and at the ponds. I’m guessing, once the day gets hot, many take shelter from the heat in the cool depth or the dark woods. But today I saw two different species of duck on Shady Pond, as well as several other, as yet unidentified, birds, including one that looked like a magpie. Returning by Swan Lake, I was thrilled to see a pair of the little diving duck whose bills make them look more like tiny loons, with pale golden eyes that look straight ahead. They are about the size of a gosling, but are clearly adults with iridescent coppery necks and brown green backs. (I’ve since found them on the web and they are Little Grebes.) While looking at these through the binoculars I discovered a turtle poking it head out of the water. It had a red ear stripe and yellow stripes on its head and when it dove I could see its shell was longer than I had expected. It appeared to be about a foot long. While looking at the turtle, who hung in the water with its head out for quite some time, I noticed a whiting blur in the water. Soon a large white carp became visible beneath the surface. The fish swam around slowly for many minutes and, when I approached the railing to look more closely, it came right to the surface and seemed to look right back at me. It was as though it expected me to do something, but clearly it is against the rules for people to feed the fish. I haven’t seen anyone feeding the ducks or swans either, although they sometimes approach as if they expecting to be fed. Perhaps the city park people feed them at certain times? There are numerous other fish in the ponds, but till now all have been the usual dull brownish color. Shiroi, (white in Japanese), was about two feel long and really stood out.

Well, at this point I am desperate for a bird book in English or Hiragana. Kanji would be beyond me. Anyone know of a good one? Ja mata, じゃ、また。

Bicycles

Since my last post I have met many new people from all over the globe. One of the most surprising is a young lady from Australia who is working on her PHD in Texas and grew up in the same suburb of Sydney that I lived in as a child! She’s a hot ticket and already pretty fluent in Japanese. I’ve also met a woman from Taiwan who seems to have taken me under her wing. Finding me walking toward the school this afternoon, she asked me to come with her so she could show me the best place to shop for vegetables and gifts. As it turns out it was the same shopping plaza I was so proud of being able to find my way home from a couple of days ago. There was definitely a shorter way to go! Tomorrow she's going to show me where I can buy second hand items, a fan perhaps, to save money on the air conditioning. I also met a young lady from Saint Paul with whom I played chess at the café on campus. At nineteen, she seemed to be enjoying the freedom to sit in the pub/café and have a beer with her homework.

I’ve been checking out bicycles. They are everywhere, especially the school children ride them. (The picture above was taken at the railway station where a sea of bikes was parked waiting for the commuters to return and ride them away.) These bicycles are simple affairs, with a basket in the front, lights and locks on every one. They are ridden down the sidewalks whenever possible, but backstreets don’t have sidewalks and are very narrow. Caution is required. I learned today the Okazaki City is a comparatively wealthy city in Japan, this being the auto industry center of the country. This accounts for high percent of families with cars and more risk of being run over. We were admonished to be careful crossing the street. A new bike can be had for as little as $145 and a used one for about $50. I am debating and waiting to see if maybe I can pick up a used one directly from a student rather than the store where they looked pretty beat up.

At today’s orientation I learned the average homework load is 2 and a half hours a night, so don’t expect to hear as much from me in the future. I will do my best to post at least once a week. There’s just so much to tell you about!

Test

10: 45 am…Waiting is. I’m sitting in a classroom after having taken the placement test, which made me feel like I had learned nearly nothing in the two years of study with Sensei. I guess that is no surprise. One thing it brings into light is how poor my hiragana and katakana reading skills are. Well, now I’m waiting for the next test, the interview. I’ve been sitting here with some of the other students who took the test this morning, all Asian young women between about 19 and 21. I feel like the elephant in the room. To entertain us while we wait, they are running “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind”, Miyazaki’s anime film that I have seen a dozen times, which still wouldn’t be bad if the color was a bit better. I’m fighting feelings of panic and loneliness. I will have to deal with both if I am to make this work.

12:30 pm… The interview went about as well as the written test. Even things I thought I knew I couldn’t get out of my mouth. I was rather flustered. (Maybe I’m still a bit jet lagged?) My interviewers were patient and nice but I could sense they were frustrated with my lack of ability. I didn’t understand the verbs they used or the question words sometimes. They asked me about my room, what was in it, and I couldn’t tell them because we never learned things like desk and stove and shelf. They asked me what I bought at Daiso (the 100 yen store) yesterday and I couldn’t tell them that either. Now I can think of a few things I might have said, but I was at a loss for words. So soon they sent me off saying come back tomorrow for the Orientation at 9:00. I politely left, feeling even worse than I did before. Tomorrow will be the entire group of new students starting at this point. I fear it will be a difficult and challenging time, but I have to remember my goals are to learn the language and the culture, no matter where I start. Well, after the thunderstorm this morning (during the test, an omen?) and the warm drizzle as I walked home, it is now getting sunny. I will go out for another walk today. See what I can discover.

5:30 pm: There’s nothing like a walk to clear up the blues. Even getting lost is a worthwhile adventure. The map I have from the school is sort of rudimentary and since there are no street names on it, and I couldn’t read the ones on the streets themselves, it’s helpful only to a point and not at all when asking for directions from a policeman because what little it says is in English. Never the less, here I am back in my room safe and sound and I have covered a lot more of the city. I found another lovely lake. Like the other one, it is surrounded by a walk way and trees and other vegetation and it, too, had ducks. I was thrilled when on my way there I passed two older women (like me) and they greeted me and I them with “konichiwa”. Then they asked me “sanpo desu ka?”, “ a walk is it?” which I understood (that was a miracle). I get sort of tongue tied, but I managed a cheery “hai” (yes) and was thrilled. Earlier some primary school girls, all in navy blue uniforms and bright yellow plastic hats, greeted me and giggled wildly when I replied.

After walking around the lake I headed generally in the direction of a shopping plaza marked on my map and sure enough there it was, a short distance away. Even finding the door can be a challenge. I watched as people all seem to be going to the movie theater next door, but I couldn’t see the door to the get into the grocery store, which is what I wanted. Finally I figured out that the door everyone was going through got me to everything. This super market was a little different from the one I went to yesterday. It had a better selection of fresh fruits and vegetable. Here, everything is wrapped and packaged, even if you want just one carrot, which you can get, but its already wrapped and priced. While I was there I check out the movies playing. The biggest advertisements were for the latest Indiana Jones movie and “Wanted”. They are certainly not far behind us in getting our big “block busters”. Do you think they have subtitles or have been dubbed? I’ll have to find out. I bet they are expensive though.

On leaving the store I wasn’t sure the best way to get back short of retracing my steps, which was surely the long way, so I asked a policeman for help, showing him my map. He looked at it and said “chotto”, then he told me to ask another policeman who would know better. (I don’t know exactly what he said, but I understood him!) I walked over to the other policeman who was directing traffic in the parking lot, and when he had a moment between cars I asked him the way to a road on the map, mostly by pointing and saying “doko desu ka?” He was a bit put off by the English too, but looking at the road numbers he was able to tell me to go straight and then take the second right and I understood, wow. I thanked him and headed off as directed. Once I turned right I was on a bigger street but in totally new territory. As I walked in the hot sun I was hoping I was heading in the right direction but there was really no way of knowing. After about 10 minutes I saw a lake to my left and was able to find it on my map and then knew just where I was and soon was walking home on streets that have already become familiar. I may have failed the placement tests, but I feel OK about negotiating these real life situations all by myself.

To see more pictures of my living quarters check Yamasa wet page. It has pretty representative pictures. http://www.yamasa.org/acjs/english/villa34.html

Here at last

Irashaimase! Welcome! You hear it over and over again in the shops and since it is about the only thing I could understand of what was being said, it’s drilled into my skull. I am really here in Japan and it is every bit as different and mysterious as I had expected. From the first hot and humid breath taken as I stepped off the plane in Nagoya to the quiet residential neighborhood where I look out my window at a row of new traditional style houses, (see the picture taken at 6:00 am this morning), each with a shiny tile roof and tiny garden and two new looking cars parked by the entrance.

Today I got my bearing by walking around the area, finding my way to the “dollar store”, here, a 100 yen store called Daiso. I didn’t understand how it worked, since most of the items didn’t have a price marked, until I finally went to the check out counter where the clerk counted the items and made a point of showing me the price on the two pieces that were marked, a bowl and plate for 210 yen each. Everything was exactly 100 yen, unless otherwise marked. That store had everything imaginable in that price range. Although I was looking for simple things like dish soap and laundry detergent, it took me a long time to find the items and to decipher what was what. There were a few English words on items, but mostly everything was in Japanese.

I spent nearly two hours wondering around this store looking lost and looking at all this mysterious stuff, especially in the home cleaning products department, but finally I was ready to go home and fix something to eat! The rice cooker awaited me. (See it on top of the fridge in picture of my kitchen). I have a simple one at home but the one that comes with my apartment is different and the directions are all in Japanese. The package of rice I bought had directions with pictures and I thought I had figured out the proportions, but in the cooker, it looked like too much water. I studied the directions again and realized that I had put 500 ml when it should have been 4/5 of that amount. I did what I could to fix that, but my first batch of rice was a disappointment, not that it stopped me from eating a bowl with seasonings. Hunger is the best cook.

Later in the day I went out to explore and to sweat. I found a small lake with a walking trail around it. A pair of white swans where gracing the far shore. There were also several kinds of ducks. As I meandered around the narrow streets, I discovered many different kinds of Japanese style houses, all tucked close together, but some with beautiful little gardens with stone paths and carefully shaped trees. I have hesitated to take pictures until I find out how people feel about having their homes photographed. I don’t want to make any social faux pas just yet.

I was surprised to find lots of little vegetable gardens tucked between houses and apartment building. Another thing one probably doesn’t think of when thinking of Japan is butterflies, but just today I saw several different kinds, an awesome big velvety black one, a black and yellow one that looked a bit like out swallow tail, and several smaller ones. As usual, I’ve been looking for birds. I don’t have a guide yet, but so far I’ve spotted a small sparrow, sort of like an English house sparrow, large crows, still in threes, and a swallow with a dark throat and white belly, and of course the ducks and swans mentioned above. Well, it’s time to start getting ready for my first day at school. Later!

Japan looms

Japan looms just ahead. I leave in three days (if the airline doesn’t cancel my fight, don’t laugh, they already canceled my return fight and that has not been resolved yet!).

Of course I have been doing all the expected things to get ready. I had my teeth checked and my body checked and my bank alerted to my departure so they don’t cancel my bankcard when they discover a charge from the other side of the world. I have also been scrambling to fit in visits with friends, including my children, before I depart. To get my head in the right place I have been reading a fascinating novel by the very poplar and famous Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore, and to get the real scoop on the details like opening up bank accounts in Japan or renting an apartment, I am reading Living Abroad in Japan by Ruthy Kanagy. Both have been very interesting. I’m all ready to read more Murakami and get on a bike when I get to Okazaki City.

Even though time is running out I still waste it wondering if I should get a bike helmet here or there? I’m also busy buying little gifts to give when I get there, small Maine souvenirs to give to people I meet. I have agonized over what might be good to take for my friend in Thailand whom I’ll visit at some point while I over there. Got any good ideas?

I think my cats are getting suspicious and have begun to act strangely. What will life without cats be like? I have begun to think of all the things I'll miss while I'm half a world away. Friends and family are foremost, but there's the garden, teaching 7th graders, practicing Aikido at the dojo, looking at the sea from my bedroom window. Leaving is a great focuser. Perhaps that's why we do it. (The photo is of Miles and Zephyr guarding the way to the garden.)

Well, if all goes well, my next entry will be from Japan. Looking forward to the unexpected. “Jaa mata.”