Take two

Tokyo Narita Airport March 25th,

The sense of deja vu is undeniable. Only 42 hours ago I arrived here thinking it was an uncomfortably tight connection to my flight back home, only to learn that most long flights had been cancelled. After waiting in line for 4 and a half hours, I was rebooked on a flight today. A tragic accident caused the delay and cast a shadow over the whole airport, but some friendly stranded travelers and the helpful, gracious hotel staff made the unexpected delay much more palatable. I used the extra day to visit one of Tokyo’s famous spots, Ueno Park, and relaxed with a good book in preparation for a very long flight today. This morning I took a walk through the hotel’s traditional garden and enjoyed for the last time the colorful fish, the winding paths and curved bridges. The garden was empty, as spectacular as it was, it did not draw the crowds that the gift shop across the street commanded. Now, waiting is! This phrase, with me since college when I read Stranger in a Strange Land, has proved to be a perfect expression of the situation, over and over again.

As my Japanese experience comes to an end, there is so much to reflect on. I can sum it up with one word: wonderful, but of course this doesn’t explain why or share the learning on so many fronts and most importantly it doesn’t describe in any meaningful way the wonderful new friendships that were begun. You may have heard to old saying (I sang the song when I was a girl scout) “make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other gold”. And when new friends become old friends we are all so much richer!

As I teacher I was particularly disturbed by my difficulties as a student! I want to remember what it felt like to be the dummy of the class and avoid some of the “help” I got from some of my teachers that made me feel even worse and was no help at all! Do I do these same things when I’m teaching?
I got positive feedback from my little English class who liked some of the games and activities we did. Things I’ve learned from my wonderful colleagues at Falmouth Middle School. These were more appropriate for my older students than the traditional Japanese teaching methods that involve lots of memorization and responding quickly to questions.

I want to go home and practice the tea ceremony steps before I forget everything! I want to keep up my calligraphy too. It was one of the things I enjoyed the most! I will have to see if I can get into a yukata before I totally forget the intricacies of tying the obi! And then there is my next adventure: the Camino Del Norte! And my home and daughters await me! It’s hard to believe I survived this long with out seeing them!

I am so happy I am returning to an America where Obama is president! Well…ashita zenbu chigaimasu! Tomorrow everything will be different!

Art work

These last few days in Japan have been so full of events, and spending time with friends, that I have had little time to write or reflect, but the two works of art that I received today in some ways sums up my experience here. The photos to the left are of two superb works of art by two Japanese people, one a little girl of four and one totally unknown to me, but obviously a talented and appreciated artist. Sai chan’s drawing was given to me at the lunch I was treated to today with her grandmother, mother and a couple of faithful attendees of the monthly English Café. It was my farewell luncheon and all the children drew pictures for me and signed their names on back. The artist and her mom and brothers are in the picture above. Sai chan is the one I know the best as the boys are often busy with sports or other pursuits. She is too cute for words, and I often wanted to hug her but held back, as hugging is a not-much-practiced-show of affection here. It was hard not to cry when we said our final goodbye.

The other picture, an exquisite scroll painting with flowers from the four seasons, was presented to me by Takeda sensei, my ikebana teacher, Sai chan’s grandmother. I love it. It’s the epitome of traditional Japanese artwork, very decorative but some what understated. I was totally unable to express my thanks and hardly know how I will ever repay the kindness, but was thrilled to get it.

I have just one more week left here: final exams, lots of packing and saying goodbye. Today I painted little pictures I will turn into “certificates of achievement” for my English class. Tomorrow is a trip to Ise Jingu, one of the most holy shrines in Japan. There will be a K Class siyonara party and maybe even a speech in front of the whole school if I don’t chicken out, but before I know it I will be on the plane and in shock. Will I ever return and see these friends and sights again? I certainly hope so!

Short timer ( again)

March 7 outing

This past weekend the group of women I teach English to on Wednesdays took me out to lunch, a farewell meal. Knowing that I'm not wild about meat they took me to a well know Hokaido crab restaurant. I was told the restaurant was more than 50 years old. It was in a large building with 4 or 5 floors of dinning areas. We too the elevator to the third floor and after taking off our shoes were shown to a cozy tatami room with a long low table all set with a variety of crab dishes. There were the usual warm towels to clean your hands, a pot of hot green tea and a heated pad under our feet to make us even more comfortable. Our purple and peach kimono clad waiteress was always coming in and out to take dishes away and bring more. The courses seemed to be endless, all crab based dishes and various seaweed dishes, with the exception of the green tea icecream for dissert. I arrived first with Kate and Kitty ( the American sounding names two of my students use in class and with foreigners) and the other students came one by one till the whole class was there and we began eating. The conversation wondered all over the place from what would I do after leaving Japan to what color my personality is. I was given a fairly detailed explanation of the four colors of personalities that are calculated by the numbers of your birthday... too bad mine is sort of a bogus date, but be that as it may, I was calculated to be a red ( aka) personality. The other colors are green, yellow and blue. We took some pictures of course and I took some of the food because the presentation is always so artistic and colorful.
After lunch the whole group went to see some early cherry trees that are blooming, as I will miss the real cherry blossom season, probably the most cherrished of all the seasonal festivals. The trees we saw were planned by volunteers and there are about 90 of them! Even though they had gone a bit past peak they were still very beautiful and if it had not been for a very stiff wind we would have enjoyed them longer, but we soon found it too cold and went near by to have tea. From the tea room we could see the river and the trees while enjoy the season's sweet "hanamidango". Three small mochi balls of different colors on a short stick. (see the pictures)

If there's one thing I've learned about going our with Japanese friends it's to expect to spend at least three or four hours and to be treated like royalty. It's a good thing that my bad Japanese keeps me contanstly humbled, ne?

Included with the pictures above are some taken in the class. Please click on the picture above to see them.

The dolls festival : Hina Matsuri

I got up this morning and after watching my favorite 15minute mini-drama, started making a salade nicoise, a la “student in Japan”. I had been invited to go to a friend of my ikebana sensei’s for a potluck lunch and to see the Hina matsuri doll display in her home. March 3 is Girl’s Day and the culmination of the Hina matsuri which dates back to Edo period and is a mixture of other festivals from earlier times, but is basically a day for wishing good luck (and a good marriage) to young girls and is celebrated with a display of dolls, either a single pair of Empress (O-Hina-sama) and Emperor (O-Dairi-sama) dolls, or a more elaborate display that can include up to 7 tiers with dolls representing court ladies, warriors, and musicians as well as house hold items like tea services, carriages and trunks and plates of mochi, all in miniature. Typically when a girl is born, her grandparents give her a Hina sama doll, or a set of dolls. Separate “little girl” dolls join the display but I’m not sure just when they are acquired. In the last few weeks, displays of dolls have cropped up everywhere: in store windows, in my school, on TV. My sensei’s daughter has a big one in her home, but the one I saw today is the biggest and most elaborate I’ve seen.

A little before 12 I rode my bicycle to a shopping center not far from my “home”, where I met my sensei and then walked on to our destination. The house was a lovely mixture of modern and traditional styles with western style rooms, but also the traditional entrance way and garden and a large tatami room where the doll display was set up in front of the tokonoma and where we ate at the low table traditionally used for eating. Even though I know better, I even made the classically gaigin mistake of forgetting to take off my slippers (kindly loaned to me when I went to the kitchen) when entering this room! While Japanese people usually where slippers around the house, always leaving outdoor shoes at the entranceway, they NEVER wear them in the tatami room.

Soon after we arrived we all sat down to lovely lunch. The hostess’ husband joined us, the only man at the event. There was delicious chirashi sushi (scatter sushi), sandwiches (ham and egg perhaps), some kind of huge black bean that was sort of sweet, o nigiri, (rice ball made with read beans and sticky rice, a holiday specialty), a potato and meat dish, pickles made from daikon and my salad. Later we had a “jelly and fruit” desert, sort of like Jell-O but less sweet. Once lunch was done, the hostess, also a kimono teacher, got out some yukatas (light summer kimonos, see my blog O bon) so they could teach me how to tie the obi (sash/belt). She also dressed up Sai Chan, sensei’s granddaughter! Before I had to leave to go to my calligraphy class, tea was served and we ate the special Hina sama mochi (rice cakes. It was great fun to be sort of “one of the family” and a special foreign guest at the same time.

I’ve put a few pictures here and a link to more, probably more dolls than you want to see!

Hina matsuri

Valentine's Day in Japan

Valentine's Day Ikebana etc.

On Valentine's Day here I went with a friend to an ikebana show. It was held in a large department store (as was the one I saw I Nagoya a number of months ago). The weather was warm and breezy and felt like Spring was going to make an early arrival this year.

The show was lovely and I took too many pictures with my failing camera, but some of you might enjoy them any way. There a also a few pictures of the O Hina Matsuri dolls that we saw in the store afterward. The doll festival is coming up in the first week of March and I expect to see a lot more of these dolls. More on that next time, but for now please have enjoy the flowers and a few banal pictures of our lunch!

As for Valentine's Day here, it is mostly a day when girls give boys they like chocolates, so in the stores were all sorts of chocolates and also the makings for home made chocolates. The teachers bought us all some chocolates, but on the whole it's not that big a deal. In May I believe there is White day on which boys give girls chocolate!

A fiery festival

Takisanji Oni Matsuri in Okazaki

All over Japan they are celebrating the traditional beginning of spring by driving out demons and welcoming good fortune into their homes. People dressed as demons (oni) are symbolically driven out by throwing beans (or, as in the case of my school, packets of peanuts and roasted beans, which we gathered back up and ate after our demon, the head of the faculty, was driven out!) However, at Takisanji Temple Oni Festival fire is used to drive out the demons! Last night several friends and I went to see this famous local festival. The pictures I took are nearly useless, as I don't have the right camera for fast moving action and flaming bundles of wood and that is just what we saw. Having said that, I still posted a few of my pictures which you can see by clicking the link above.

To get to Takisanji temple I rode my bike to the central Okazaki train station, about 30 minutes, where I met my friends and caught a bus to the temple. After a 25-minute ride we arrived at the foot of a steep, wide stone stairway that let to the temple. A few of the usual festival food stands were just starting to offer interesting looking snacks at the several landings on the way up, but not knowing when the ceremony would begin, we hurried up the stairs. At the top we came immediately into the crowd that was beginning to gather around the front of the temple where a sort of stage was erected. On either side of this central space two huge bundles of bamboo and wood had been erected and were soon being ceremoniously lit by men in various, colorful costumes. Once these two fagots were lit, they threw off a lot of light and heat, and had to be attended to by several men with brooms constantly dipped in water and applied here and there to control the burning.

After that, several ritualized performances were done on the stage, accompanied by singing and drumming. For a long time nothing very exciting seemed to be happening, as the crowd slowly grew larger and larger. I took this opportunity to walk around the temple grounds and from one side I could see lots of coming and going as participants were putting on costumes and getting ready for something. There were groups of young people running around, fathers holding little children on the shoulders to see over the crowd, children climbing on the stone lanterns to get a better view, and lovers enjoying the darkness.

My friends and I had to catch one of only three buses that would be taking folks back at round 8 p.m., so we were getting a little apprehensive as the hour approached and still there was no sign of the finale, when suddenly from the back side of the temple, a large line of men dressed in white came running a long the porch carrying long burning torches which they bounced along the balustrade. Children wearing demon masks were carried and "chased" around the temple as the flames shot to roof edge and sparks showered the crowd. It was an amazing five or so minutes of drama as one wondered if, despite the numerous firemen on hand, the temple would not go up in flames at any moment or that one of the "demons" would not be dropped as they were lifted high to show the crowd!

Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over. The burning torches were tossed off the porch into piles on the ground and the crowd immediately began to move to the stairways and down to the buses, cars or food stalls. We too headed down, but HAD to stop for a crepe with banana and whipped cream on the way. We just made it onto the last bus!

I am including a link here for a web site I found that describes this festival nicely and also has a few much better pictures. I hope you can feel the heat!

http://nippon-kichi.jp/article_list.do;jsessionid=D967EF22452A9F00F6C8DCAF8D4092A2?p=4660&ml_lang=en

Nagano trip

Nagano trip

To all my "regular" readers, my apologizes for being so sporadic! Things are getting very busy what with studies becoming more demanding and weekend events cropping up. This past weekend was devoted entirely to a Yamasa run trip to the Nagano and Gifu prefectures. It was a packed trip from Friday after classes to Sunday evening, so studies were a little behind at the start of the week. Rather then write a long narrative of the trip I've just posted a link to the pictures and added a few captions. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, enjoy these instead, please.

Oshogatsu - New Year's Eve

Although I’m back in School at Yamasa once more, I promised to write about the lovely experience I had on Oshogatsu, New Year’s Eve. It had been a cold and mostly grey day in Kyoto and I had been tourist-ing around since 8 that morning. Gion had been a bit of a disappointment, as had been the closed castle and the garden at Ryoanji, so I was undecided as to whether I would make the effort to go somewhere to see the New Year being rung in. Back at my little ryokan, the only dinner available was udon (noodles), but I was making the best of it, when the hotel owner sat down to chat with me. She must have thought I looked lonely there all by myself. I asked her what people did to celebrate the year’s end and she told me about the ringing of the bell in the temple. I asked her where was the nearest temple, as there are no busses after 8 or 9 to that part of town. She assured me there was one just a little ways up the road. She drew me a rudimentary map and I thanked her and returned to my room. I was still not sure it was worth the effort, but when I Google-mapped the temple and found that it really was close, about half a kilometer away, I decided to go.

I set out on foot at about 11:15. When I arrived at the temple I was surprised to find only a few people standing around a bonfire that was being built, from what I had heard, I was expecting a crowd. The big bell was lit up, as was the temple itself. I greeted people and got the expected strange looks, but soon the woman standing next to me struck up a conversation and asked me where I was from. When I said “America” she immediately brightened and told me that her daughter had just returned for the holidays from America where she is studying. Soon Keiko was introduced to me. Her American English was good. She had clearly been studying in the States for a while. She seemed happy to explain things to me, and from then on she and her mother took me under their wing and made sure that I was shown what to do.

On Oshogatsu the tradition is to ring the BIG bell 108 (then one more) times to ring out the earthly desires that weigh us down in life, thus starting the New Year fresh. The head priest at the temple later explained at length how the number came about, but besides it involving old traditions and scriptures, I didn’t get much of the explanation and Keiko found it hard to explain as well.

At the temple each person who comes t ring the bell goes to the temple first and gets a little wooden tablet with a number on it, a receives a little gift of tea and a blessing from the temple staff. The number is your turn at ringing the bell. The little tablets are collected in order until all 108 and the final have all been rung in. I did this with Keiko, who explained to the Buddhist monk, head priest, (what should I call him, I don’t really know), how it was that I was there, as it was just people who were affiliated with the temple in some way that had showed up that night. He was very welcoming. As the night went on, there were less and less people there, but the bell had not been wrung enough times yet, so we started to take second and third turns at the ringing it. Soon every one who was left was taking another turn and another turn, each ring counted with the little tablets. My new friends explained that every year is different. Sometimes there are plenty of people to ring in the year and other years, like this one, people have to take many turns. Since Keiko’s father was head of the lay people for this temple, her family was staying to the end, so I stayed too, and helped ring in the year.

When we had finally made the count, it was about 1:30 am. The bonfire had burned down low and only an handful of people were left, so Keiko and her family invited me to join the for a cup of tea up in the temple. While we were sipping our tea and listening to the explanation of the 108 rings, others were scurrying about putting things away and packing up. I was just thinking it was time to excuse myself when they invited me to join them for more tea with the group in another building.
“ This is a good opportunity for you” they said and seemed to be happy to offer it to me so I accepted. In a building attached to the temple we were seated at low tables, the Head monk sat in the middle of the U, with Keiko and I, her mother and father and another woman on one side, and 5 or 6 men on the other. We were all served a special New Year’s sweet and macha tea (green powdered tea) by kimono clad ladies. Once every one was served the priest gave a short speech, a hope for the coming year I took it to be, then he handed out presents to each of us, me included! These consisted of the little board, ema, that one usually writes a prayer or wish on and leaves at the temple, and a little package with a backscratcher and an ear pick (cleaning tool), all decorated with signs of the new year which is the year of the bull or ox, depending on how you translate. I asked what I should do about the “ema” since I wouldn’t be there to bring it back and the priest said to take it home and put a wish on it and bring it back next time I came to Japan! I was very touched that they should include me in this small but very special gathering! I thanked every one and asked that we take a picture of the group, which we did, but my hosts took it with their camera, so I am waiting to see if they will remember to send it to me! After many farewells and thank-you’s, I headed back toward my hotel on foot, but was soon picked up and dropped off by one of the families from the temple. My head was still spinning with amazement at how the unexpected can be so wonderful. I felt it was a very special opportunity indeed.

If you’re interested in learning more about Japanese New Year’s celebration check out this web site:
http://mothra.rerf.or.jp/ENG/Hiroshima/Festivals/27.html

Nara and Mount Inari

The first three pictures of from the New Year's celebration (oshogatsu) and the rest are from Nara, the first capital city of Japan.

Nara, Japan

Here's the link to my latest pictures from Kyoto. I want to write about my very special New Year's Celebration but that will have to wait till I have a bit of time, in the meantime here are some pictures so you have some idea of the places I visited.

Fushimi Inaritaisha Shrine and Mount Inari

Arrival in Kyoto

I'm pretty tired so have put some captions on the photos from today's major events and will leave it at that. See you tomorrow.

Kyoto day one

Shinkansen!

Riding the worlds fastest train for the first time, WOW. And I nearly missed it! You can never estimate correctly the time it takes to navigate a train station in a foreign land. The hotel clerk thought 20 minutes would be fine. I thought that sounded reasonable, but no! When I got to the station, I thought I knew where the underground tunnel was to the shinkasen side, but I got turned around. When I found the tunnel it was twice as long as it was when I arrived two days ago.( Have you noticed how that happens?) I got to the bullet train side with 10 minutes to departure. Dragging my heavy suitcase behind me I looked for the correct gate or platform but this was not immediately evident. After finding the gate, the ticket man said I needed all three of my tickets, not just the one that said Himeji on it, so I had to go fishing through my suitcase to find the other two that I had stored for safekeeping. By the time I got through the ticket gate it was 5 minutes to departure and I still had another escalator to ascend. As I reached the platform the train was pulling in. I had a reserved seat so was looking for car 7. Time was short so I entered in car 6 and by the time I got to my seat in car 7 the train had left the station!

I have a window seat but we’ve in a tunnel most of the time since leaving the station. You can tell this baby is going FAST! There are tantalizing glimpses of countryside between tunnels, less then a second to see the sites! As fate would have it I’m on the landward side and the best views are on the seaward side, or am I just thinking the grass is greener on the other side, as usual? Ah, a town, lots of blue tile roofs. Gone. More tunnel.

>>>>>>>
When I got to Himeji I wondered around a bit before I found my hotel. I couldn’t have my room until 2:00 so I left my bags and headed for the castle. I walked most of the way through a huge arcade filled with shops of all sorts and all lit up for the holidays. When I came out the castle loomed ahead of me, high, white and magnificent. I approached leisurely, savoring the expectation of seeing this legendary building. When I reached the moat and the Edo period gate I was confronted by a large sign in both Japanese and English. The castle is closed on December 29 and 30. The only two days that I will be here, they decide to close the place, for what I can only guess. From the faces on the crowds, I was not the only one surprised by this news. Not only the castle, but the nearby park and formal garden, the botanical gardens and just about everywhere else a tourist might go was closed. Well, on the bright side, the weather was great and until this evening my camera was working! Since there was little else to do, I walked all around the castle and took pictures from every angle. I also took pictures of the cats! Yes, cats. What a surprise to find that the parks around the castle are home to dozens of wild or at least un-owned cats who seem to be well fed by the visitors to the area. They are sort of like the deer on Miyajima, only you are allowed to feed them.
Forgive me for post so many pictures of the White Heron ( or Egret, depending on your translation, the word is the same in Japanese).

Himeji

Miyajima

I arrived in Hiroshima late last night and spend most of today on Miyajima, one of the most spectacular places in Japan, (according to the guide book). It really is hard to describe and it's late so I'll just plop in a link for some pictures I took. My camera is acting up and seems to need a cleaning so I wasn't very happy with a lot of the pictures and I have to apologize for taking so many of the famous red Tori gate, but it is sooo picturesque and I have wanted to see it for a long time. The deer are cute and are everywhere. You are forbidden to feed them and really shouldn't pet them, but everyone does. The males are more aggressive and will eat your map right out of your hands if you don't watch out!

Miyajima

Okinawa

I can’t believe that I’m already on a plane heading back to “Honto” Japan, as the Okinawans call the rest of Japan. My five days with Takeshi and his family were just fabulous. They treated me like visiting royalty and family at the same time. Takeshi took five days off from work just to show me around and what a great job he did. I saw so many spectacular places. Here are a few: 1) the worlds second largest aquarium with the worlds largest tank holding not one, but three whale sharks who they are hopeful about breeding! 2) countless beautiful beaches with coral sands and turquoise waters ( when the sun was shining), 3) the restored ancient palace of the kings of the Ryukyu Kingdom, Shurijo, as Okinawa was called before it was annexed by Japan in 1879, 4) The Peace memorial to the dead from the Battle of Okinawa that ended the Pacific War for Okinawa in 1943, this was a place to reflect on the great suffering and death caused by war, 5) the Okinawa World theme park which also had a spectacular limestone cave through which we walked for 800 meters, only a fraction of the 8 kilometers of caves there! 6) and a not be forgotten trip through a “real” Okinawan market, Makishi Public Market, which reminded me a bit of Thailand’s open air markets. Here I tasted the alcohol made with a poison snake (poison removed) fermenting at the bottom of the bottle, vat, or jar. I was also tricked by Takeshi into tasting pig ears! This was disguised as some tasty unknown substance. The vendor who was giving me samples of sea grape (umibudou) seaweed, then offered me some other things. After I ate this sort of crunchy but good tasting stuff they asked me what I thought it was. I thought might be another seaweed, but they announced with glee that it was prepared pig ears!!! I think I just escaped eating pig’s feet too!

Throughout my visit I was treated to delicious food, both at Takeshi’s home and at famous restaurants and cafes. Delicious sushi, fresh sashimi from a little restaurant 20 feet from the sea where the fish was caught, yummy udon (noodles) that only cost 200 yen, fresh fruit and Okinawa’s favorite Blue Seal ice-cream, the list goes on and on. Okinawa is full of English names and English signs, the result of years of American rule and the continued presence of thousands of American military personnel living on and off the many bases still operating here.

Shoko, Takeshi’s girlfriend, could only get off one day while I was here. She went with us on my first day on the island. Megu, Takeshi’s sister is a high-school English teacher. Her year-end vacation started on the 26th and she left on that day for Canada and a 10 day vacation! Talk about a change in climate! It was 78 F. in Okinawa today!

Here’s a link to some of the pictures I took:

Okinawa

Happy Holidays!

Today is the 22nd of December, the first day of winter, but here in Japan the weather is mild and I am on my way to Okinawa where the weather will be warm and breezy. Okinawa is in the southern most islands of Japan and are viewed as a holiday destination much the way Hawaii is to Americans!

I will spend Christmas this year with my friend Takeshi and his family. This is the first time since my daughters were born that I am not spending the holidays with at least one of them. It certainly feels strange. Right now I’m in the airport waiting for my flight, listing to the messages in Japanese that I still cannot understand. Hopefully it’s not something I really need to know! Luckily, the boarding process is virtually the same everywhere so I can just guess what they are saying.

The last couple of weeks of school flew by. There were a lot of tests and time spent with friends, the knitting group, making travel plans, and buying a cell phone so I could stay in touch while on my trip. All the while, fighting off homesickness. No baking of cookies, no making of whisky cakes (a annual event in my house) and no stockings to fill or tree to trim….chiotto sabishii, as they say here (a bit lonely), but don’t feel too sorry for me, I’m looking forward to this bit of traveling around Japan and finally going to Kyoto, the ancient capital and cultural center of Japan. I will stop in Hiroshima, Himeji and Nara as well. New Years celebrations in Kyoto should be quite something.

I’m now two thirds through my stay here but feel like I have only just gotten here in terms of understanding Japanese and feeling more comfortable with my ability to negotiate the challenges of daily life, train travel, bill paying, reservation making. As my understanding grows, what I don’t understand seems to grow faster! I have eaten lots of yummy homemade dishes, but don’t know how to make any of them. I still want to learn how to tie an obi correctly, make “scatter sushi” and inari sushi, and see a Kabuki performance. And there’s always school. This new term will be more challenging and I will have to work hard to stay on top on it all.

I talked to Krista on Skype today and learned that they were having another Nor’easter, we call the big winter storms in Maine. They pointed the computer toward the window so I could see the snow coming down and the trees all looking white. It’s fun to actually miss these things. It has been cool (in the fifties for the most part) here, but I am headed for temperatures in the 70’s in Okinawa!

Because this entry is doubling as my annual holiday letter, I want to update some of you who may not know that Krista is planning for a July wedding next year! Kevin proposed to her on the day I left for Japan! So we toasted their engagement and my trip all in the same sip of champagne!

Anna and Jake have a new home in Hallowell, Maine and are getting settled again. With these hard financial times, we are all just glad to be getting along. You may not be staying up on the yen, but it has become stronger and stronger since I got here and my dollars are only getting 89 yen today compared to 105 when I got here! Ouch!

I am hoping for much better things for us all next year with the new administration. Yes, I know it will take time, but if an effort is being made to improve things on a global scale, maybe we will see some change soon!

(These pictures were taken in Okinawa with my friends Takeshi and Shoko.)

I hope you are all well. My best wishes for a Happy New Year to you all!

Miso

Since time is short and I wrote too much last week I'll just include a couple of pictures from this week and a write a few words about miso.

I'll just assume that you all know what miso is and just get to the point: today I went to the locally famous red miso, or Hacho miso as it is called, factories here in Okazaki. Tomoko and I visited two big factories, took their tours and ate their samples, and bought miso products to take home and give as gifts. The most interesting thing to me about the visit was how this centuries old industry has changed very little and how the fermentation process still involves placing by hand several tons of stones on top of each barrel full of prepared soybeans. The placement of the stones has to be just so, as to stay in place for the three years of fermentation and even to withstand minor earthquakes! Hundreds of huge cedar barrels were resting in the warehouse, each with it's pyramid of stones of different sizes, especially picked, and laid by specially trained stone-layers.

This has also been a great week for a sushi lover such as myself. My English class had a pot luck on before class this week and brought all sorts of goodies, including this "pressed sushi" which was served in a lovey lacquer ware box. Then, today, I went to a new (to me) conveyor-belt sushi place that was several notches above the one I had eaten at before. Tomoko and I shared all the plates, ate our fill and only paid a little over $10 each. When we first sat down at the counter, the lady sitting next to me exclaimed in amazement, and in English, " You can eat raw fish??". We assured her I could and that was the end of the conversation, but it sort of sums up how the Japanese perceive Westerners when it comes to Japanese food.

Tea and a hike

Sorry to have made this so long, just skip it and check out the pictures below if time is short.

This morning Tomoko san picked me up in front of my room and we headed north to a garden and shrine and a trail to hike. I was a crisp but sunny day. There was still frost on the moss in the garden when we arrived, but the gold of the last fall leaves was glowing against the bright, blue sky. I had come prepared for a hike, but then it sounded like a walk in a garden, so I didn’t bring my backpack from the car and later regretted it. First, we checked out a vegetable stand where produce was sold for prices way below those in the supper market. I bought taro, which I have learned to cook, and pickled plums (because they are sort of a specialty) and Tomoko bought some huge fresh oyster mushroom, and taro also. The shop let us leave our bags there while we were enjoying the teahouse and gardens. (When we came back hours later, the shop was closed but our bag was still there waiting for us!)

When we entered the teahouse/shop I was surprised to see it full of kimono glad young ladies, but Tomoko explained that in the year when a girl will turn twenty, she gets all dressed up in traditional garb and goes to a shrine on New Year’s day. Since there are a million young ladies there on that day it’s not a good one for taking pictures in the formal gardens, so these young ladies were all decked out like geisha without the face paint just for a photo shoot in the teahouse gardens. This way they will have a really nice picture of this special event and won’t have to worry about the crowds on January first.

After looking at all the lovely, but expensive, things in the gift shop, we inspected the gardens. You can see a few pictures of it in the slide show below. We then hiked up the mountain to a famous look out point and hill top shrine. The sign said it was 900 meters, which didn’t seem like a lot, but most of it was up hill so it took us a while to finally get to the top. The trail up went though a old cedar forest with very tall straight trees and a carpet of leaves. On the way, we met a elderly lady who was coming down. She offered me her stick, which she had apparently picked up along the way. A kind gesture, but I declined as the hardest part is going down and she still had a ways to go. At the top we could see Okazaki and some of the surrounding towns way below. The late fall light was pretty, but it was a bit hazy so the distant mountains were barely visible. We had the place to ourselves except for one couple, who had hiked up another path and joined us as we were reaching the old shrine with the red tori gate.

After hiking back down we were ready for a good meal and that is what we had at the little restaurant that was also in the garden. They offered two set meals, for 1000 yen (that is now about $11) but it was close to closing time and only one choice was left. I can’t tell you the name of the dish, they just go in one ear and out the other, but it was tasty. It came with a rice dish that was still cooking in a little pot over a flame on the tray, an assortment of pickles and sweet things, a seafood ball of some sort, and a bowl of miso soup, and of course tea. The picture I took is terrible but I included it any way so you could at least see how pretty the presentation was. With our meal we got a discount on macha tea and a sweet at the teahouse, so after our lunch we went there for a little tea. Macha tea a the green powder tea that is used in tea ceremony and is always served to the guest in a beautiful bowl with a little sweet to eat before drinking it. You can see a picture of the bowl and the sweet, which was wrapped in a bamboo leaf, in the slide show below.

In the slide show I also included some pictures from earlier this week. On Thursday, Mia and I went to Tomoko’s apartment for a knitting session and dinner. Junco also joined us. She is a friend of Tomoko’s and one of my English class students. She is very sweet and down to earth, does gardening, and yoga, and looks after her husband who is retired. We four ladies decided to dust off our long dormant knitting, or in my case crochet, skills. Tomoko has a huge collection of wool she wants to use up, and I am working on a scarf just to have something to do besides study. Mia is a mad knitter who takes her knitting to school to work on it on her lunch break. Mostly it was just fun to have this very mundane activity to share with our new friends. Just for you plant lovers, also in the slide show a couple of shots of this amazing dahlia that grows here. It towers over the gardens and even passes the roof line on implausibly delicate stems and seems to only come in the pale lavender color.

Tea & a hike

RED

This weekend I spent another, and probably final, day leaf viewing, but it was the best yet. Right here in Okazaki's Higashi Koen, East Park, I spend a lovely afternoon with some "school mates" oooing and aaahing at the spectacular colors of the maples. Mia is from Israel and Unchien (this is probably not spelled right, sorry) is from Korea.

I don't know my trees that well, but all the deep burgundy, bright glowing red and yellow-peach leaves seem to be on Japanese maples. The park includes several ponds, a small, sad zoo where I still couldn't resist taking a picture of the mere cats, numerous gardens, and a Buddhist temple. One of the things that makes the Fall color here so spectacular is that it's not that cold, and there is still a lot of other plants that are green and flowering! Here are a few pictures for you to see. As nice as some of these are, they don't do it justice.

Higashi Koen 11/30/08

Momiji

Japan is famous for its fall colors as is Maine. Here momiji, as the red maple leaves are called, are a passion and daily reports of the colors progress are made on TV and the Internet. The last two weekends I had opportunities to visit some new places and see how the leaves where doing. This past weekend was a peak one for the hilly area north of Okazaki and so, along with a million other people, I went to a “momiji festival” in a park about an hour’s drive north, or so the poster said. As it turned out, the traffic was so bad, we ended up getting off the bus, at the drivers suggestion, and walking the last 7 or 8 kilometers along the side of the road. The bus never caught up with us. As we got closer to the park entrance, all the tour buses started letting their passengers out to go ahead. It was a bit like going to the Common Ground Fair on Saturday! At the park, there were all sorts of booths and food places. The smells were tantalizing, but I didn’t have a lot of money or time, so only snacked on a few local delicacies. The trees would have been beautiful to photograph during the day, but we arrived as the sun was sinking behind the hills and had to enjoy them by the fading light of dusk. At night the park was lit up and was quick a spectacle, but nothing my camera could capture. The last public bus back to Okazaki left at 6:30 p.m. so we soon had to leave to get in the long line waiting to return. Once onboard we were packed in like sardines and stood for the hour and a half trip back. Back at the Okazaki bus station my companions and I found our bikes in the bicycle garage and peddled home. It was quite the adventure. Click below to see a few pictures from the trip.

Momiji

Higashi Kôen

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Yesterday the weather was spectacular, a warm fall day here, so after classes, and a long week of studying, I got out my map and figured out the route to a park on the other side of town. The wonderful thing about Japan is that no mater how busy or industrial the section of town, there is a way to get there by bike. I had a bike lane/sidewalk all the way to the park. The Higashi Koen, East Park, is on a bit of hill over looking the city and offered lovely views at every turn. The fall color was highlighted against the green of bamboo groves and ancient pines.

I don’t have much time to write today as I’m heading out to a museum with some friends, so here are a few pictures from the trip to the park.

Oh, yes, for those of you who did try to guess the flowers of the obis, they were iris and wisteria! Take another look and you will see them now! I'm writing postcards this weekend.

Here's the link to pictures on Picasa or just click the picture below:
http://picasaweb.google.com/aikidosra/HiashiKEn?authkey=2wp-Eucazgs&pli=1#

Hiashi Kôen

Hana Musubi

Yesterday was a gray, rainy, almost-fall day and could have been rather quiet and depressing but instead was one of the most socially entertaining days I’ve had! At ten in the morning I went to Takeda san’s house for the monthly meeting of the English café. It was a special day in that a former member of the group and his Japanese wife and child were visiting from Switzerland, where they now live. Mario, who despite his name is a German speaking Swiss, met his wife when he was a student here at Yamasa. When they come back to Japan to visit her family each year, they also get together with their old friends from the English café. It was also the day that Takeda sensei had a obi show in the afternoon so she was dressed in a beautiful kimono, but, like an idiot, I didn’t think to bring my camera. A luncheon (ランチ、pronounced “runchi”) was planned for after the English practice time and I was thrilled to be invited to join them.


After the “café”, we all walked up the street to a traditional looking Japanese restaurant where a tatami matted room with low table and cushions awaited us. After the usual flurry of photo taking, by the others :-(, we had a delicious meal that started off with green tea and hand towels. The main course took a while to come and during that time the children ran around playing and the adults talked about all sorts of things. The conversation flowing back and forth in Japanese and English and I was thrilled to be able to understand a lot of the main ideas in Japanese! Both Mario, who held “my position” in the club several years ago, and the English club regular, Atsushi san, the Toyota engineer, speak English quite well and could translate whenever that was needed. We talked about the election and they were all happy and hopeful about Obama, and everyone commented on how well spoken he is. This tells you a lot about the perception of the current President, apparently not much different from my own.

The main course arrived and was served on lacquer-ware trays, each one with an array of dishes. I think there were 9 on my tray: two tiny dishes with mini servings of pickles and cold spinach salad, then a covered bowel of miso soup, a dish with three slices of tuna sashimi, a plate with pieces of cooked fish, eggplant and leek, with a miso based sauce, a container of cooked rice, a ceramic covered cup with a warm savory custard and finally a tiny saucer of soy sauce for dipping the sashimi. Each dish was arranged beautiful and was very tasty. The final course was a choice of coffee or green tea ice cream.

In all, the meal took two hours and the four children, ages one and a half to nine, entertained each other and ate their specially ordered, more child-friendly meals, without any complaints. Several of the guests spent time entertaining them while the others chatted on. It’s interesting to see how different cultures handle these kinds of long inter-generational gatherings.

Today was equally filled with fascinating events: a traditional Japanese arts show, the one my tea ceremony teacher had an entry in, and afterward, lunch in a modern bakery/eatery. At 10 this morning, I met Takeda san and Noriko san at a near-by landmark and we went together to these events. Noriko san is a young woman whom I met at the tea ceremony classes. Her English is better than my Japanese so she helped me understand things when the conversation veered from the basic to the sublime, or somewhere in between. (See these friends in the picture above.) The Japanese traditional arts show was held in a large new facility in a part of town I had not been to before. There was obi tying display, one of obis tied like flowers, and one of obis tied for wearing on special occasions. (The obi is the sash that goes with a kimono and can be tied in an infinite number of ways). One of these flower obis is Takeda sensei’s, but I actually didn’t understand which one, as she was very understated about the whole thing and didn’t really indicate which one it was. At about 11:00 we were invited into a mass tea ceremony, with the traditional sweet and tea offered by a host of kimono clad ladies to a room full of people, while a tea master performed the tea making ritual at the front of the room. After that we checked out the handmade figurines/dolls made of silk or other materials and the homemade elixirs made from all manner of fruits and vegetables, including coffee and chili-peppers. These apparently are traditional home remedies for any number of ailments. I got recipes in case you are interested. On the next floor were more obis, these tied for wearing, where the flower-tied obis are for display only. No two were alike and there were 40 of them all in different brocaded fabrics, with various accessories. We then descended to the first floor and took in the calligraphy and scroll painting and finally the ikebana and flower arranging displays (not the same thing here, by the way)! For a Japanese culture freak like myself, it was a fabulous show!

After we had seen all there was to see, my two escorts started thinking about lunch and soon we were off to a near-by shopping center to eat at a popular, modern restaurant. The bread was particularly “famous” and the place was packed, as was the parking lot, where uniformed parking attendants helped direct cars into the available spots as they became free; no fending for yourself here.

At lunch we ordered a light main course. I had a fresh salmon and ginger salad, the others a chicken something, and we all got the drink and bread “set”, as they call it here. This meant that we could have all the small rolls of different flavors that we wished. Japanese bread is very soft and fluffy, so not really the thing for the “hard, crusty bread eaters”, but fresh and tasty. These buns were straight from the oven and several refills were offered from a basket of assorted flavors. We ate with knives and forks. There was not a chopstick in sight. I asked my friends which was the more popular way, American or British, for using these utensils and they each said something different, so “anything goes” is my take, when it comes to Western eating tools.

Here's a challenge for those of you who took the time to read to the end of this long entry: Can you name the flowers that the top two obis are imitating? I'll write a real, postage and all, postcard to anyone who gets them right. Gambate! (roughly: do our best!)